Peptide Synthesis

The Proteomics Centre provides custom peptide synthesis services for mass spectrometry standards and antibody production. We use Prelude’s Peptide Synthesizer with parallel reaction vessels, which allows for high through-put synthesis, up to six peptides simultaneously. Current methodologies include Fmoc based chemistry with HBTU activation on a 5 - 20 nM variable synthesis scale. The added availability of a single shot amino acid delivery allows for easy incorporation of amino acids in to custom peptides (e.g. phosphorylated or nitrosylated peptides). The instrument also has an automated on-board cleavage chemistry feature allowing flexible cleavage options for all amino-acid requirements. Isotopically coded peptides are also synthesized at the Centre, which are useful for absolute quantitation of peptides and proteins using mass spectrometric approaches like MRM and or iMALDI¹.

1. Warren, E.N., Elms, P.J., Parker, C.E, Borchers, C. H., Development of a Protein Chip: A MS-based Method for Quantitation of Protein Expression and Modification Levels using an Immunoaffinity Approach. Analytical Chemistry, 76: 4082-4092 (2004)