Liquid chromatography
The laboratory is equipped with a high-performance liquid chromatography (B HPLCB ) system fitted with an autosampler, fraction collector and UV-vis detector, which can be interfaced with a mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific Ultimate 3000) for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemical, biological and biotechnological compounds.
There is also a second, similar HPLC system fitted with an electrochemical detector (ECD). A fume cupboard, workbenches and bench-top equipment such as a centrifuge and sonicator ensure a smooth sample extraction and preparation proc
Mass spectrometry
The laboratory is equipped with a mass spectrometer based on electrospray ionisation (ESI) technology with an ion trap analyser (Thermo Scientific LCQ Fleet), which can be used for direct injection analysis or in conjunction with chromatographic separation. This instrument is suitable for the analysis of organic compounds, metabolites and digested proteins.
The laboratory is also equipped with a mass spectrometer utilising Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/ Ionisation (MALDI) and a dual-time-of-flight (TOF/TOF) analyser capable of identifying and structurally characterising proteins and peptides in biological samples and various types of chemical compounds (LOD ≈ pmol), but which cannot be used for accurate quantitative analysis (AB SCIEX TOF/TOF 5800).
Computational Chemistry
The laboratory has recently acquired equipment suitable for carrying out computational chemistry and molecular modelling studies, such as computers based on Intel, AMD and Apple Silicon architectures, running Windows, Linux and UNIX operating systems. Research activities are based on the use of software for ligand analysis, the prediction of pharmacokinetic properties, the design of ligands and macromolecular targets, docking studies, molecular dynamics and data analysis.
