Center for Protein Engineering

Founded in 1990, the aim of the Centre d'Ingénierie des Protéines is to offer an integrated approach to the determination of the structure of proteins and to the analysis of their functional properties.

Five distinct, but closely interacting groups are collaborating in the framework of the Centre to yield results representing very diverse orientations: 

• Bacterial physiology and genetic
• Biological macromolecules and biochemistry
• Enzymology and protein folding
• Crystallography of macromolecules
• Applied quantum chemistry and Modelling
  

Protein Production and Characterisation platform:
The goal of the "Protein Production, purification and Characterisation" Facility is to provide laboratory and pilot-scale equipment for on- and off-campus users. The program allows researchers to access expertise in the areas of microbial fermentation, protein purification and characterisation. Services offered by the Facility include the production of proteins by different microbial cells, their purification and their biochemical and biophysical characterisations.

• Cloning: in E. coli, Bacillus subtilis, Streptomyces lividans and Pichia pastoris for production in the culture medium or into the cytoplasm.
• Production: in microtiter plates, flaks and computer-controlled fermentors
• Cell harvesting or supernatant handling: continuous centrifugation or hollow fibre filtration
• Protein purification: classic chromatographic separations at analytical, large or pilot scales
• Protein characterization: SDS-PAGE analysis, 2D electrophoresis, isoelectric focussing,
UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism, thermostability studies, N-terminal sequencing, surface Plasmon Resonance, enzymology, biological assays, Western blots, endotoxin determinations.
• Practical formation: microbial cloning, microbial fermentation and protein purification