Welcome to the OPPFThe Oxford Protein Production Facility is a structural proteomics facility in the Division of Structural Biology of the Department of Medicine, Oxford University, funded by the Medical Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The OPPF aims to promote and facilitate high throughput structural biology for the UK academic community. It is the first stage in a structural proteomics programme for the UK and represents an essential stepping stone toward the practical exploitation of the wealth of information coming from the human genome sequencing projects. To date, OPPF technologies have contributed to solving over 130 new protein structures. Targets are human proteins and those of human pathogens, both viral and bacterial, selected for their direct biomedical relevance. The OPPF seeks to achieve high-throughput production of proteins and protein crystals by automating, parallelizing and miniaturizing all stages of the processes involved. The facility is currently housed in a purpose-built laboratory next to the Henry Wellcome Building for Genomic Medicine on the Churchill Hospital site in Headington. OPPF ServicesThe OPPF offers access to high-throughput crystallization using 100 nl sitting drops. Please go to the Services tab for details. The OPPF offers access to parallel vector construction and expression screening in E. coli. Please go to the Services tab for details. For information about transnational access to this facility, please go to the P-CUBE website. The mass spectrometry facility at the OPPF has now closed down in preparation for the move to the Research Complex.
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The OPPF-UKThe OPPF-UK will be a National Resource Centre for protein production funded by the MRC and BBSRC. The project will be located in the Research Complex currently being built next to the Diamond Light Source on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and is due to be up and running by Spring 2010.
Dr Ray Owens, OPPF-UK Project Manager, explains more about the new development: ‘The creation of the original OPPF was a response to the vital research requirement for a high- throughput protein production and crystallization facility in the UK. It was the first stage in a structural proteomics programme for the UK and represented an essential stepping stone toward the practical exploitation of the wealth of information coming from the human genome sequencing projects. ‘We now want to develop the services we provide to the UK academic community by establishing a National Facility which will offer free access to our technology platforms. Some prioritization of the work we undertake will be necessary so a review board will be established to select projects most likely to benefit from the OPPF-UK, similar to the access model for synchrotron beamlines. We will also be actively encouraging researchers to visit the OPPF-UK and make use of the facilities themselves.’ Professor Dave Stuart, Life Sciences Director of Diamond commented: ‘The OPPF-UK will be an important link to other National facilities on the Harwell site, including Diamond, and forms part of a much larger European initiative, INSTRUCT, which aims to enhance the availability of world-class infrastructure for integrated structural biology across Europe.’ Latest Methods Papersvan Boxel GI, Stewart-Jones G, Holmes S, Sainsbury S, Shepherd D, Gillespie Hitchman RB, Possee RD, Crombie AT, Chambers A, Ho K, Siaterli E, Lissina O,Sternard H, Novy R, Loomis K, Bird LE, Owens RJ, King LA. Genetic modification of a baculovirus vector for increased expression in insect cells. Cell Biol. Toxicol. 2009 Aug 5. [Epub ahead of print] Nettleship JE, Rahman-Huq N, Owens RJ. The production of glycoproteins by transient expression in Mammalian cells. Methods Mol Biol. 2009; 498: 245-63. Berrow NS, Alderton D, Owens RJ. The Precise Engineering of Expression Vectors Using High-Throughput In-Fusion PCR Cloning. Methods Mol Biol. 2009; 498: 75-90.
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