NEPAF (the North East Proteome Analysis Facility) will work with a wide range of R&D groups and healthcare companies in the private and public sector in the UK and internationally and will provide then with access to leading expertise and equipment for the study of proteins.
The facility will give clients access to expertise in the use of proteomics for drug discovery, development and manufacture and in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease.
The facility provides a range of services including protein extraction, using one of the first pressure cycling homogenisers in the UK, protein separation using 2-Dimensional Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and multi-dimensional liquid chromatography (MD-LC). Separated proteins can then be investigated using a wide range of state-of-the-art analytical techniques, including six different mass spectrometers and a protein arraying system. These instruments provide capabilities for biomarker discovery, signal transduction pathway analysis, protein expression analysis, protein identification, quantification and characterisation.
With its main laboratory located on the campus of Newcastle University and a second laboratory located on the campus of Durham University, NEPAF is supported by the regional development agency One North East and the European Regional Development Fund. In 2007 Cels secured £4 million to develop the facility, which is the only one of its kind in the North East of England.
Through Cels, NEPAF has a dedicated team of six scientists, including experienced practitioners in the field of proteomics.
This team has already been engaged with a number of regional pharmaceutical companies and academic research groups, successfully working on projects to demonstrate the capabilities of the facility. The project is now being launched into the wider bioscience network of pharmaceutical companies, contract research and biotech organisations.
NEPAF also provides proteomics services to the academic research sector and makes novel applications of proteomics available to industries outside the traditional biotech and pharmaceutical markets such as the food and beverage sector and quality testing laboratories.
Dr Glen Kemp of Cels is Programme Manager of NEPAF and says: “The UK’s biotech sector is growing and in order for this growth to continue, we need to provide state-of-the-art facilities that allow even the smallest of companies to carry out the research they need. NEPAF’s goal is to support companies carrying out significant and, in some cases, ground-breaking research and development using proteomics that will secure the reputation of the North East as the place to do biotech business.”
Achim Treumann, Scientific Manager of NEPAF says: “Our aim at NEPAF is to use state-of-the-art technology to provide solutions for real world biochemical problems. Our ability to help customers with the design of the right experiment, together with our advanced data generation and data analysis tools will open up proteomics to a wide audience in academic and commercial research. The level of validation of experimental data generated in the NEPAF lab ensures that you obtain reliable results and our scientists' communication skills ensure that you will understand them.”
For further information visit: www.nepaf.com
