Proposals

Abstract

We are requesting funds to purchase and run JESS, an automated, high-throughput, quantitative, capillary-based Western blot system that would be available to over 600 undergraduate and graduate students studying at the University of Washington (UW) South Lake Union (SLU) Research Campus. The main goal of the project is to enhance the academic and research experience of these students by allowing them to be trained on and use this next generation Western blot system. Although Western blotting is one of the most common molecular biology and biochemistry procedures used to detect and analyze a protein of interest in biological samples, it also is an archaic technology that was invented 40+ years ago, and it has persisted in its original form with many but minor refinements over the years. Despite its extensive use in biomedical sciences, it is also plagued by low sensitivity, high inter-experimental variation, inability to quantify, and low throughput. Although JESS solves all of the issues inherent to the traditional system and is being adopted by many leading institutions in the country, the UW has only one JESS, and it is located on the main campus. Therefore, the 600+ UW SLU students are not able to use this game-changing equipment to advance their research. Upon approval of this proposal, we would purchase JESS from ProteinSimple (San Jose, CA) and house it in D354 of the SLU Brotman Research Building. JESS would be accessible to all UW students who have been properly trained on its use. Dr. Ken Fujise, Professor and Principal Investigator within the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine at UW SLU would train students and manage the equipment. Dr. Fujise has extensive knowledge and experience with the system and has published papers using data generated by the system. He would also be available to help students plan and design experiments and optimize use of the equipment. JESS will allow undergraduate and graduate students who study at one of the most innovative universities in the world to transition from using archaic technology to using cutting-edge technology.