Multi & fast: the secret for a protein production facility@elettra

Abstract

Expression, purification and structure determination of recombinant proteins is a fundamental requirement for a variety of biological applications, from exploratory research to pharmaceutical drug discovery. Exploiting the expertise and the strategic location of the laboratories of Elettra Synchrotron of Trieste, we have invested to create a dedicated center for protein production and characterization in the newly renovated structural biology lab of Elettra. The PROTEO project aims to offer a specialized support to research groups that need to obtain pure recombinant proteins for functional or structural studies. The core protein production unit is equipped to express/purify proteins with high efficiency in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems and is setting up HT protocols. Currently, ten different projects are running in the lab. For each project, constructs design followed by fast multi-cloning approach has been performed leading to the combined evaluation of a number of different expression data: most adequate expression systems were chosen and the purification protocols were optimized to obtain correctly folded, functional and stable proteins for structural studies. In this paper we present the organization of the PROTEO protein production platform and a number of studies ongoing.