Anyone is welcome to use the facility. Research labs located at USC have open access to all Center equipment.Non-Profit organizations and industrial collaborators outside of USC will be charged depending on services provided.
If needed, we will guide you through sample preparation, crystallization and all the way to structural determination of the targeted protein. Protocols and flow charts are available.
We will provide you training and guidance to prepare your sample for crystallization of your protein.The images from the crystallization drops can be monitored from your computer.
Please contact us at
sbc-bridge-l@maillist.usc.edu and make an appointment with our scientist.
Our scientist will analyze your target and provide you suitable sample preparation protocol for a successful structures determination.
Once you have your protein ready, we will set up initial crystallization screens. When a hit is observed, the crystallization condition will be optimized for higher quality crystals. The frozen crystals will be exposed for X-Ray radiation, which will result in a diffraction. The collected diffraction data will be used for structure determination.
We make use of 96 well plate (3 well-intelliplates) from Art Robbins Instruments for our soluble protein screens. The plates have shown excellent clarity for imaging and overall consistency.
Initial quality checks of your protein are required before it goes to crystallization screening trials. Fluorescence recovery after photo bleaching (FRAP) will tell you the diffusion rate of your protein in LCP.
Our labs have extensive experience and knowledge in membrane proteins crystallization in lipidic environment and also high throughput protein crystallization in vapor diffusion manner in a nano-volume drops for soluble proteins. A combination of a state of art facility, knowledge and experience provides us a solid base for offering our collaborators a successful experience with us.
Structural Biology Center @ Bridge (SBC@Bridge) would provide you all the necessary means required for structural determination of your protein of interest either
soluble or membrane protein. Here at SBCB you have access to a world class facility and highly trained experts to assist you to achieve your goal.
SBC@Bridge can assist you in sample preparation, protein characterization, ligand search, crystallization, data collection and structural determination of your protein.
The Structural biology facility at Bridge is an initiative effort of Stevens and Cherezov labs
at Bridge Institute , and is directed and managed
by Fariborz Nasertorabi and Gye Won Han.
SBC@Bridge is a collaborative initiative started by a set of structural biology groups who recently moved to USC and aim to bridge all USC labs to create a more creative, novel, interactive and productive science at USC Campus. To connect and contribute to all research labs at USC we have opened our facility to USC labs at a nominal cost.
Using Mosquito robot means you can prepare “assay ready” plates containing test compounds direct from library stocks or dilution plates, as the disposable micropipettes guarantee zero carry-over between samples. Mosquito can aspirate from any source plate leaving dead volumes of less than 0.3 ?L. You can easily program Mosquito to perform traditional serial dilutions by aspirating, dispensing and mixing across a plate using miniaturized volumes ranging from 25 nL–1.2 ?L for soluble proteins. More >>
The NT8 is a fast, compact, nanoliter-volume liquid handler with drop dispensing capability, including LCP experiments. The 8-tip head aspirates and dispenses drops from 50 nL to 1.8 ?L. The NT8's dead volume is less than 3 ?L for 96 drops and has a active humidity control to minimizes sample evaporation. More >>
Rock Imager is an automated imaging system for protein crystallization. This robust, easy-to-use solution can incubate 1000 plates in a temperature controlled hotel and captures superior quality images on a user-defined schedule to monitor the progress. It also has the capability of taking UV images to discern between protein and salt crystals. An account will be set up and you will be able to view the crystallization progress from your own computer from anywhere at anytime. More >>
Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) is a technique to measure the diffusion rate of a protein in lipidic environment. This measure can be interpreted as an indicator for potentiality of a protein to crystallize. More >>
SONICC (Second Order Nonlinear Imaging of Chiral Crystals) definitively identifies chiral crystals with SHG (Second Harmonic Generation) technology and discerns between protein and salt crystals with UV-TPEF (Ultraviolet Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence) technology. Crystals appear white against a stark black background, helping you to identify crystals even in murky environments. SONICC can detect extremely thin crystals, microcrystals <1 ?m, and crystals obscured in birefringent LCP. More >>
TTP Labtech’s dragonfly® screen optimiser enables complex assay gradients or optimisation screens to be rapidly and accurately prepared, even with viscous liquids, while eliminating cross-contamination. More>>
Measure the concentration and purity of your DNA, RNA or protein samples using the Thermo Scientific NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer and be confident in your downstream application results. Using only 1 µL, you can obtain your results in less than 15 seconds from sample pipetting to wiping the pedestal clean. More >>
It uses a Xenon flash lamp for superior sensitivity, high signal-to-noise, and fast kinetics. It measures the emission of light from samples in four modes. Using Xenon lamp technology, it captures a data point every 12.5 ms and scans at 24,000 nm/min without peak shifts.
The Cary Eclipse is the only spectrophotometer with room light immunity. With an optional microplate reader, it offers full wavelength scanning of 384 samples.
More >>
*SBC@Bridge uses two Thermal Shift Assay instruments which shows high sensitivity and uses micrograms of proteins. This rapid and reliable method allows you to discover the right stabilizing agent/conditions required for your protein to crystallize by screening for the best buffers, additives substrates and ligands.
Outstanding thermal and optical performance due to rotary format An unmatched optical range spanning UV to infrared wavelengths QIAGEN's real-time PCR cycler, the Rotor-Gene Q, combines multiple optimized design features to provide the outstanding performance and reliable results that your research demands. More >>
*SBC@Bridge uses two Thermal Shift Assay instruments which shows high sensitivity and uses micrograms of proteins. This rapid and reliable method allows you to discover the right stabilizing agent/conditions required for your protein to crystallize by screening for the best buffers, additives substrates and ligands.
Bridge Institute, Michelson Hall, 1002 West Childs Way, MCB309, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-3502
E-mail: sbc-bridge-l@maillist.usc.edu