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Virtual Tour: Proteomics Laboratory |
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The Proteomics Center at Children's Hospital Boston, one of just a handful in the Boston area, enables hospital researchers to identify and quantify all the proteins in a cell, tissue or complete organism. This research has the potential to yield big dividends in medicine, such as diagnosing genetic diseases in newborns and identifying proteins that are "markers" of various types of diseases. In addition, the Proteomics Center supports major basic research efforts carried on throughout Children's Hospital Boston.
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1. Mass Spectrometer
The mass spectrometer is a sensitive scale that is able to "weigh" tiny objects, in this case protein fragments. It uses an extremely high magnetic field that is almost 150,000 times stronger than the earth's magnetic field. The instrument is sensitive enough to allow researchers to identify individual amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), each of which has a unique mass. From this information they can identify proteins.
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2. Automated LC
Liquid chromatography, or LC, is a technique researchers use to separate and organize protein fragments. The purpose of this instrument is to group many thousands of identical protein fragments together and feed them - one protein fragment group after the other - to another device in the lab, the mass spectrometer.
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3. Liquid Nitrogen
The mass spectrometers make use of liquid nitrogen for cooling purposes. The nitrogen is delivered in a huge thermos, like this one, called a Dewar container. The temperature of the liquid nitrogen is -321 degrees F (-196 degrees C).
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Next: Karp Family Research Laboratories...
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