New Lab Manual Focuses On Essential Methods For Purifying And Characterizing Proteins

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 08 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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A new, user-friendly laboratory manual for protein purification and analysis has just been released by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Designed for routine, day-to-day use in the laboratory, it includes essential step-wise protocols as well as background information, recommended experimental strategies, and troubleshooting advice on the most fundamental protein-related methods used by scientists at all levels.

Understanding how proteins function is an essential part of many biological research endeavors. The complexity and sheer number of proteins in a cell are impediments to identifying proteins of interest or purifying proteins for function and structure analysis. Thus, reducing the complexity of a protein sample or in some cases purifying a protein to homogeneity is necessary.

The convenient new manual, Basic Methods in Protein Purification and Analysis, integrates established in vitro and in vivo molecular techniques with more modern in silico methods. It takes the user from the initial steps of obtaining cellular and subcellular extracts, through the purification and isolation steps appropriate for the protein of interest, and, finally, to the steps involved in characterizing and identifying proteins, protein complexes, and protein-protein interactions. Rounding out the manual is an extensive appendix of essential methods for quantifying protein concentration, stabilizing and storing proteins, concentrating proteins, and immunoblotting.

Basic Methods in Protein Purification and Analysis was derived in large part from the popular laboratory manuals Proteins and Proteomics, Purifying Proteins for Proteomics (both by Richard Simpson), and Protein-Protein Interactions (edited by Erica Golemis and Peter Adams), which have proven to be both very successful and highly regarded.

This is the second volume in the Basic Methods series; the first, Basic Methods in Microscopy focused on essential techniques for imaging cells and tissues, including sample preparation, microscope use, and image interpretation.

About the book

Basic Methods in Protein Purification and Analysis: A Laboratory Manual (© 2009, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press) was edited by Richard J. Simpson (Joint ProteomicS Laboratory [JPSL] of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia), Peter D. Adams (Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia), and Erica A. Golemis (Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia). It is available in hardcover (ISBN 978-087969868-3) and paperback (ISBN 978-087969867-6) and is 436 pp. in length (illus., appendices, index). For additional information, please see here.

About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is an internationally renowned publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, located on Long Island, New York. Since 1933, it has furthered the advance and spread of scientific knowledge in all areas of genetics and molecular biology, including cancer biology, plant science, bioinformatics, and neurobiology. It is a division of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an innovator in life science research and the education of scientists, students, and the public.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press