Frequently Asked Questions
- The facility services are available to all the research community both within UC Davis and outside of UC Davis.
- It’s purely first-come, first-served and might have some exceptions when working with samples that degrade or denature very quickly.
- Training for on campus users may be arranged for ongoing projects.
- Yes, the core will advise users on sample preparation and experimental design at no charge.
- For EPR, samples should have at least 20 micromolar spin concentration, although a spin concentration of 80 micromolar or higher provides optimal spectra. For CD, peptide and protein samples should be in the 0.3-0.5 mg/ml range.
- Depending on needs, EPR configurations utilize either 5 or 30 microliters of sample. Typical CD scans require 250 microliters of sample. More volume needed if wants to perform multiple studies by adding different reagents/compounds.
- For EPR sample loading times depend on the configuration. Normal Room Temperature Scans on samples with sufficient spin concentrations are typically completed in 2 minutes after proper tuning. Acquisition times for CD spectra are typically 5-10 minutes. The usual practice for both EPR and CD measurements is taking an average of multiple scans meaning more time than mentioned above. The time will vary based on the sample characteristics and purity.