Services

    New services available

    Protein quality assessment with mass photometry

    An automated mass photometer that measures 14 samples in an hour has been installed in our facility as part of the Turku Protein Core. The instrument will help in assessing the quality of macromolecules, especially proteins, their stability, aggregation, oligomerization stage, and molecular mass. It can be used prior to cryo-EM and crystallization studies to improve the quality of the proteins and to choose the right samples for structural studies (e.g., fractions with the desired protein-protein complex). The method requires only ng of sample (concentration range 100 pm-100 nM).

    Crystallizations with microseeding

    Use of crystal seed stocks in high-throughput crystallization screenings to improve the chances of crystal formation. Microseeds can be dispensed either during sitting drop or microbatch-under-oil setups.

    A state-of-the-art single-photon counting X-ray detector and a new goniometer have been installed. The new set-up allows:

    In situ crystal testing
    • In situ data collection
    • In situ crystal characterisation
    • Fast data collection and processing
    • Serial crystallography
    • Fragment screening for drug design
    • Easy and efficient in-house phasing
    • Small-molecule crystallography
    • Powder diffraction
    • New educational and training activities

    AlphaFold2 protein structure predictions

    We provide help and consultancy to run AlphaFold2 and to analyze/interpret the models (please see Modelling services)

    How to acknowledge the use of the facility

    Users are kindly asked to acknowledge the use of our facility.

    For example: 

    “The use and expertise of Turku Bioscience Protein Structure and Chemistry Core Facility,  a member of Biocenter Finland and FINStruct, is gratefully acknowledged.”

    In addition, users should inform us (i) whenever publications have been accepted for publication/published (ii) of the PDB/CSD entry codes whenever structures have been deposited (iii) MSc and PhD theses whenever the facility has been used to obtain data for these theses.