Capabilities

The MEPEP facility will be organized in two subunits:

• The Molecular Evolution and Protein Engineering subunit will focus on applying directed evolution techniques for improving protein function and properties. Leveraging Purdue’s expertise in structural biology and bioinformatics, the facility will better pinpoint the changes that need to be made at the gene level in order to obtain the desired activity, stability and performance. Microfluidic devices combined with high-throughput screening methods will allow researchers to analyze more than 10^6 variants per hour.
• The Protein Expression, Purification and Characterization subunit will focus on low- to mid-scale expression of recombinant proteins in different prokaryotic (E. coli) and eukaryotic (S. cerevisiae, P. Pastoris, CHO, HEK) cell lines or in vitro transcription-translation systems. Staff members will not only develop protocols based on commonly used laboratory strains, but will also work on strain engineering for better expression yields or properties (for example, different glycosylation patterns).