Mission and Vision

The mission of the Structural Biology Core is to enhance the research infrastructure available to MU life scientists by ensuring sustained access to functional state-of-the-art equipment and to faculty expertise in the fields of structural biology and peptide synthesis.

To accomplish that goal we will:

Provide equipment maintenance and infrastructure support for structural biology research.
Provide structural biology computational (hardware and software) support.
Provide an interface for MU researchers seeking structural biology expertise on campus.

In 2003, a Peptide Synthesis Core was added under the SBC umbrella. The mission of the peptide synthesis core is to provide synthetic peptides in milligram to gram quantities containing non-natural amino acids, metal chelators, peptide-nucleic acid (PNA) conjugates, phospho-peptides, multiple antigen peptides (MAPs), cyclic peptides and fluorescent tagged peptides to researchers across MU.

The Structural Biology Core is currently experiencing a growth phase with the addition of new faculty and equipment:

Stefan Sarafianos (X-ray crystallographer, MMI, 2006)
Chun Tang (NMR spectroscopist, Biochemistry, early 2008)
Second X-ray image plate system (R-AXIS IV++, 2006)
$2.1 Million 800 MHz Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometer (early 2008)

Our continuing goal is to provide access to structural biology resources, facilitate collaborations between faculty with expertise in structural biology and other MU life scientists, and help strengthen proposals for extramural funding.

Questions? Contact our Staff!