Surface Plasmon Resonance to Measure Biomolecular Interaction at Fresno State

PROJECT SUMAMRY/ABSTRACT The Nicoya Alto is a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instrument platform for measuring the kinetics and affinity of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions. SPR has become the standard approach for measuring protein interactions and has broad applications in protein science and drug discovery. This instrument is capable of real-

time kinetic measurements using very low sample amounts. The long-term objective of this application is to provide the infrastructure needed to measure biomolecular interactions at Fresno State. The users of this instrument propose multi-disciplinary research and educational projects that measure protein interactions in a

range of applications including: antibody engineering, cancer drug discovery, anti-bacterial peptides, and protein nanomaterials. The Nicoya Alto instrument will also be used in an educational capacity to train a generation of undergraduate students in the fundamentals of protein structure relationships and quantitative binding. Fresno

State is a minority serving institution located in California’s central valley, we serve a population of underrepresented minorities and 1st generations college students. Access to a state of the art- SPR instrument will help the College of Science and Math’s serve this important student population and meet its strategic goal

of preparing the next generation of STEM professionals though innovation and discovery. The instrument will bring new biomedical research capabilities to Fresno State, benefiting our diverse student population, enabling the measurement of protein interactions in a variety of research and educational contexts.