Molecular Surface Interaction Lab (MSI)

 

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MWAC MSI lab instrument

Who we are

Our Molecular Surface Interaction Laboratory houses equipment that analyses interactions on the nanoscale. This includes interactions between proteins, peptides, antibodies, small molecules, carbohydrates, cells and materials. 

The lab currently supports users through: 

  • Advice on instrument selection 

  • Advice on experimental design 

  • Training to independently use the instruments 

  • Training to analyse, model, present and interpret data 

  • Assistance with data analysis, presentation and interpretation for publication 

  • Option for staff-operated data acquisition, analysis and interpretation

Acknowledgement obligations

If publications or presentations should arise from work carried out either in part, or in their entirety, within the MSI lab, adequate acknowledgment should be given. The following statement or wording with similar meaning can be use.

The authors acknowledge the Molecular Surface Interaction (MSI) lab within the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre (MWAC) at UNSW for instrument access and technical assistance

Funding partners:

Capabilities

Science molecule icon
Antibody-antigen screening
Screen antibody specificity in real-time for antibody design or immune response analysis
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Low molecular weight compounds
Screen small molecules or peptides for hit identification, lead optimization in drug discovery or target validation
Kinetic characterization
Measure association rate, and dissociation rate of molecular interactions for protein, DNA/RNA, glycan, small molecule, polymer, gold nanoparticle etc.
Affinity measurement
Measure steady-state affinity of protein, DNA/RNA, glycan, small molecule, polymer, gold nanoparticle etc.
Concentration determination in cell lysate
Specifically quantify tagged protein during expression optimization without prior purification
Live cell impedance measurement
Label-free measurements of cell barrier function, proliferation and compound cytotoxicity in a single experiment

Instruments

  • Biacore T200 uses an optical technique, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), to measure label-free detection of small molecule/protein/peptide/antibody interactions. The system has four channels and is capable of auto-sampling.

  • BLItz interferometry-based biosensor enables label-free, real-time analysis of protein interactions with minimal sample volume. This single-channel, manually-operated instrument and is ideally suited for simple, low volume experiments and can tolerate crude samples and nanoparticles.

  • Monolith NT.115 uses microscale thermophoresis (MST), which is a biophysical technique that exploits the motion change of molecules in a microscopic temperature gradient during binding events. Monolith NT.115 measures the strength of the interaction between two molecules by detecting variations in the fluorescence signal.

  • QSense Analyzer (Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring) uses acoustic and gravimetric techniques that allow label-free, real-time measurement of interactions between surface immobilised materials, molecules or cells with ng/cm2 resolution. The QSense Analyzer system has four channels allowing multiplexing of experiments for high throughput.

  • ECIS Z-Theta measures live cell behaviours continuously in real-time, using electric cell-substrate impedance sensing. By applying an alternating current across patterned gold electrodes with cells attached, ECIS can quantify barrier function, cell proliferation rate, cytotoxicity and migration.

Our people

don-thomas
Head NMR

Phone: 02 9065 6115
Emaildonald.thomas@unsw.edu.au

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Megan Lord
Researcher

Phone: 02 9385 3910 
Email: m.lord@unsw.edu.au

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Headshot of Xiaojing Huang
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Fees

  • Fees cover instrument operation fees, buffers and general laboratory consumables (excludes sensors or crystals).
  • Training fee remains free for all users.
  • Minimum instrument booking time is 1 hour. 
  • Once users are trained to independently operate an instrument, the research group is charged as the below table. The maximum charge for internal user-operation is $2,000 per calendar year per user.
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    Academic

    Corporate

    User-operation

    $ 30

    $ 120

    Staff-operation

    $ 80

    $ 180

     

    Please contact msi@unsw.edu.au to discuss your needs or project-based services. Training remains free for all users with standard user-operation rate applied.

     

How to access

To ensure a smooth and successful induction process, please complete the following steps carefully.

Please note : Failure to do any of the steps below will mean induction is incomplete and access will not be activated.

If you have other questions, please contact the Laboratory Coordinator

  • Contact MSI manager Dr. Xiaojing Huang prior to registration and induction.

  • After reading the BMSF Lab Manual, complete the relevant questionnaire. A 100% score is required before booking an induction tour, with multiple attempts allowed.

  • Register at MSI and contact Dr. Xiaojing Huang for instrument training.

Contact us

Molecular Surface Interaction Laboratory

Level 2, Biological Sciences
South Building (E26)
UNSW Sydney

Email: msi@unsw.edu.au

We like to hear from you. If you have questions, requests or ideas for collaboration, please complete the contact form and we will be in touch within five business days.

Get in touch about your project

We offer a range of services that can be tailored to your needs. Please send us an enquiry to get started.