The Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy - The University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy
The Department ofNeurobiology

Department Research

Molecular Neurobiology Core Facility


Molecular Neurobiology Core FacilityRoom MSB 7.402
Coordinator: M. Neal Waxham, Ph.D. | E-mail
Telephone: (713) 500-5621

The molecular neurobiology core facility was established to support work in the areas of protein chemistry, neurochemistry and molecular biology. Several pieces of equipment form the core of this facility. Two Beckman binary HPLC systems are available, both driven by the System Gold software package. One is dedicated to the fluorometric and/or electrochemical analysis of neurotransmitters and related substances using state-of-the-art Shimadzu fluorescence and ESA Coulochem-II electrochemical detectors. The second HPLC is dedicated to the purification of proteins and peptides and also the analysis of phosphopeptides. Detectors associated with this instrument include two Beckman UV detectors, one standard variable wavelength and the second a photodiode array detector capable of generating spectrum scans "on-the-fly", and a Radiometric Flo-1 beta on-line radioactive flow detector. There is also a FPLC instrument with accompanying UV detector for the purification of proteins. The core is further equipped with a Beckman L8-75 ultracentrifuge with numerous swinging bucket and fixed angle rotors, Beckman LS-6000 and LS-9000 scintillation counters, and several -80oC freezers. There are also ample environmental shakers and controlled atmosphere cabinets for a range of eucaryotic and prokaryotic cell work. The molecular neurobiology core's most recent acquisition is a Molecular Dynamics PhosphoImager run by ImageQuant software for quantitative analysis of radiolabeled proteins or nucleic acids analyzed on one- and two-dimensional gels.