College-Based Research Resources
Molecular Modeling Laboratory
The Molecular Modeling Laboratory is employed to find new pharmaceutical agents as well as to correct problems with existing drugs. Utilizing state of the art Silicon Graphics computers, researchers can view and alter molecular structures much less expensively than in the traditional laboratory environment. The traditional alteration of a molecule may involve numerous laboratory processes leading to the synthesis of many molecules. With the computer, scientists can change molecular structures with a reasonable idea of the corresponding pharmacological changes. For example, if an existing drug has a particular troublesome side effect, the molecular structure can be modified to maintain the original efficacy, while decreasing the side effect.
Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy Facility
The department recently added a state-of-the-art LCMS systems: the API-3000. Together with the existing Bruker Esquire LCMS system, it constitutes the shared LCMS facility of the department. The Bruker Esquire-LC Ion Trap LC/MS(n) system is located in room 310, Faculty building of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Mass range m/z can be measured from 50 up to 6000 with high resolution and high sensitivity. Multiple fragmentation (MS/MS) of analyte molecule can go up to MS6 for structural elucidation. Coupled with HP 1100 Chemstation and the robust, versatile software running on Windows NT, the LC-MS system is an extremely powerful and indispensable instrument for life science researches. The API 3000™ LC/MS/MS System is an enhanced high performance triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with applications in protein and peptide analysis, small molecule analysis in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies, and n-in-one cassette dosing analysis. It is located in 4P in the Crowe Building.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility
The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences has modern equipment for the performance of a wide range of experimental procedures. One of the newest and most expensive pieces of equipment is a Varian Unity Inova 500MHz NMR, located in room 107 Johnson Building. This instrument and another upgraded Bruker ARX-300MHz NMR forms the NMR lab in the Health Science Center. These state-of-the-art instruments are available to members of the department for qualitative and quantitative purposes, and it is presently used primarily to determine the structure of drug molecules, protein/DNA structure elucidation and combinatorial chemistry studies. The NMR is a very powerful tool in determining the structure of complex natural materials and synthetic organic substances. Routine multinuclear multidimensional NMR capabilities are available, as well as flow probe for High Throughput Screen (HTS) studies and Nanoprobe for semi-solid and tissue studies. For more information, contact Wei Li.