Acquisition of Amersham Typhoon 5 Variable-mode Imager

This proposal seeks funding for the acquisition of a state of the art biomolecular imager as a shared instrument for the Northwestern University (NU) research community. The Amersham Typhoon 5 variable-mode imager provides versatile imaging capabilities and exceptional sensitivity for characterization of macromolecules in gels, blots and micro-plates and microarrays. Such capabilities are required by many NIH-funded projects currently underway at NU (including, but not limited to, the 14 projects described in this application). The instrument will be integrated in the Keck Biophysics Facility—a well known resource of shared equipment and technical expertise available to NU researchers. The Typhoon 5 biomolecular imager will replace an older instrument, the Typhoon 9400 - currently the only laser scanner available for shared usage at Northwestern University. The Typhoon 9400 is past its operating life time, is experiencing technical problems and is no longer supported by its manufacturer. The need for the capabilities provided by the Typhoon 5 imager for the NU Life Sciences research community cannot be underscored: over 20 research groups would benefit from these capabilities on a daily basis. Projects include those seeking to understand various aspects of genomic organization and function, structure-activity studies and sophisticated proteomic approaches aiming to identify new molecular targets for cancer therapies, projects to characterize proteostasis networks involved in neurodegenerative diseases and type II diabetes as well as projects seeking to develop innovative drugs and therapeutic tools against cancer and other human conditions.