Pasteur Genopole® Île-de-France contains all the high-tech equipment that is necessary for genomics and functional genomics or other molecular studies. At the present there are ten technological platforms in the Genopole whose purpose is to promote scientific discovery, notably in the areas of fundamental research, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases:

The platforms (PF) are equipped with the latest technology and have trained personnel to operate these machines. Due to the complexity and cost of the instruments, access is regulated. However, one can get trained and then use them by registering over a web site.  Sometimes the different platforms organise trainings (e.g. microarray course) or have an open day. The regularity of these courses is variable, and is often in French.

PF1 :Genomics
PF2 : Transcriptome And Epigenetics
PF3 : Proteomics
PF4 : Genomic Analysis and Integration
PF5 : Production of Monoclonal Antibodies and Recombinant Proteins
PF6 : Macromolecular Crystallisation and X-Ray Diffraction
PF8 : Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health 
# Protein Microsequencing and Analysis
# Biophysics of macromolecules and their interactions

PF1 : Genomics This unit deals with sequencing projects of different sizes. Classical Sanger sequencing as well New Generation Sequencing using the Illumina/Solexa technique are available. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and using an application document available at their website. Informatics tools for analysis of these sequences are available.

PF2: Transcriptome And Epigenetics This unit deals with transcriptome projects using Agilent, Nimblegen, Affimetrix and deep sequencing with the Solexa/Illmina machine. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application form available at their website. Informatics tools for analysis of these sequences are available.

PF3: Proteomics This unit deals with identification and characterization of proteins using 2D-gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. The platform presently has three different types of mass spectrometers (an electro-spray triple quadripoles API 365, an 4800 MALDI-TOF/TOF, one quadripole-time of flight QSTAR XLand bioinformatics tools allowing the identification of proteins in the databases (Mascot, ProteinPilot). Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application document available at their website. Informatics tools for analysis of these sequences are available.

PF4: Genomic Analysis and Integration This unit deals with bioinformatics questions to organize and analyze the information obtained through genome sequencing and transcriptome analysis, in particular: assembly, annotation and re-annotation of genomes, construction of specialized databases and fundamental studies about the genome organization. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application document available at their website. Informatics tools for analysis of these sequences are available.

PF 5: Production of Monoclonal Antibodies and Recombinant Proteins This unit deals with the Production of Monoclonal Antibodies and Recombinant Proteins. There are three modules. One is the purification of recombinant proteins produced by microorganisms. The platform grows the recombinant microorganisms, and optimizes the culture condition to get the maximal amount of proteins in a soluble form to purify them. The second module produces and purifies recombinant proteins from insect cells. Recombinant baculovirus transformed in Spodoptera frugiperda cells and stable transformants in Drosophila cells are used to produce the proteins of interest for purification. The third module deals with the production of monoclonal antibodies. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application document available at their website.  Quality control of protein produced can be carried out using Mass Spec at PF3 or PF6 and at the Biophysics of Macromolecules platform.

PF6: Macromolecular Crystallisation and X-Ray Diffraction This unit deals with crystallisation of proteins. It has three different robots for crystallisation and mother liquor preparation, a Gemini (TECAN), a Synquad (CARTESIAN) and a Matrixmaker. The platform also has a Micromax (Rigaku) with Osmics mirrors and a Mar 345 detector for X-ray diffraction. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application document available at their website. Acces to Soleil and ESRF synchrotrons is regularly scheduled through Beamtime allocation group (BAG) application. Independent projects will require involvement with the research units specialized in x-ray crystallography for data collection, processing, phasing and model building/refinement on computer graphics.

PF8: Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health This unit deals mainly with genotyping of pathogens and offers scientific and technological help for French Public Health laboratories and Reference Centres for surveillance of infectious diseases, in particular in the molecular identification and typing of pathogenic microorganisms. These techniques are mainly based on sequencing but biostatistics and bioinformatics tools are also offered. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application form available at their website

# Two technological platforms exist without the PF numbering.

1. The platform dealing with protein micro sequencing and analysis has an ABI494 sequencer that allows whole protein N- and C-terminal end sequencing of proteins, as well as internal protein sequencing after either tryptic or CnBr cleavage followed by HPLC and C-terminal sequencing,  or by MALDI-TOFF mass spectrometer in conjunction with database matching. Furthermore, the ProteinChip® mass spectrometry technology (Ciphergen) is available. The platform offers the possibility of differential protein expression, the study of specific molecular interactions like receptor/ligand, antibody/antigen, protein/protein, DNA/protein as well as the purification, characterization and identification of proteins. Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application form available at their website.

2. The platform Biophysics of macromolecules and their interactions offers many different techniques to study the size and the shape of macromolecules, the stoichiometry of their assembly, their secondary and tertiary structure and the kinetics and thermodynamic properties of their interactions.
The available techniques/equipment comprises the following:

Secondary/tertiary  structure characterization:
-  Circular Dichroism Spectrometer 410
-  DynaPro-MS800 for dynamic light scattering
- Viscotek Model 302 for Gel Permeation Chromatography
- Infrared spectroscopy to study the secondary structure of macromolecules by analysing the absorption frequencies of specific chemical groups

Intermolecular interaction:
- two MicroCal microcalorimeters
- Biacore 2000 for characterization of molecules in real time in terms of their specificity of interaction, on and off rates (kinetics) and their binding strength (affinity)
- Quantamaster C60 fluorimeter and a stopped-flow KinetAsyst SF61-DX2 machine
- ProteomeLab XL-I ultracentrifuge for protein characterization by measuring the mass of a macromolecule in solution and di-/multimer association constants
- Optima XL-A ultracentrifuge
Projects can be submitted after discussion with the platform head and submitting an application form available at their website