Current Research Studies
National Institutes of Health NINDS Institutional Center Core Grants: Neuroproteomics P30

Principal Investigator: Richard S. Morrison, PhD, Director of the Center for Neuroproteomics
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. Gwenn Garden

This award establishes a University of Washington Research Core facility that provides essential proteomics and bioinformatics infrastructure support for a large contingent of scientists interested in mapping protein-protein interactions in the nervous system.

Many of these investigators conduct research involving disease genes and a defined analysis of their binding partners will help investigators to understand how alterations in these genes modulate neuronal and glial structure and function during the course of nervous system disease and injury. This research is essential to the mission of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS). Three research cores and one administrative core provide support for the research programs and stimulate interactions and collaborations among investigators.

Core A

Core A, the molecular virology core, provides a repository for all of the expression plasmids needed to tag proteins and map protein-protein interactions and validate binding interactions using a variety of biochemical methods. This core also produces expression plasmids for a small number of laboratories that lack this expertise and generates titer lentivirus for each expression construct providing a valuable reagent for expressing tagged proteins in cells that are traditionally difficult to transfect.

Core B

Core B, the mass spectrometry core, provides mass spectrometry-based identification of protein complexes purified using the pull down techniques associated with the various tagged proteins generated in Core A.

Core C

Core C, the bioinformatics core, provides comprehensive analysis of protein sequence data, molecular interactions, pathways, biological structures, genetic maps, homology information, and functional annotations of proteins identified in the various pull down assays. The research cores are supported by an administrative core that oversees the operation of each research core, organizes user meetings, steering committee meetings, and provides clerical, fiscal and personnel support.