* Corresponding Author
Abstract
In 1988 the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities asked resource facility directors and technical personnel to list the instruments used in their laboratories and to rate them according to performance characteristics, maintenance, supplies required, and overall user satisfaction. The resulting data for protein sequencers, amino acid analyzers, peptide synthesizers, oligonucleotide synthesizers and HPLCs provide a comprehensive view of user perceptions of equipment performance and manufacturer support. The instruments receiving the lowest ratings were amino acid analyzers, particularly those employing pre-column derivatization. All categories relating to cost a. e., parts, supplies) were areas of dissatisfaction, but, in general, facility personnel were satisfied with the capabilities and supports of the instruments in their laboratories.
Introduction
Information regarding the utility, performance and maintenance characteristics of major instrumentation used in protein and nucleic acid core facilities currently comes from either the manufacturers of the instrumentation or informally from colleagues who are users of the instrumentation. Data provided by the manufacturers are based on new equipment operated under the ideal conditions on samples with known content. Those data may not be directly applicable to older instruments operating in the field, sometimes under less than ideal conditions and usually on "unknown" samples. And data provided by colleagues are subject to sampling errors because of the small number of inquiries generally made. The goal of this survey was to obtain information that would provide a realistic picture of performance, suitability and degree of satisfaction in many categories related to instruments used in core facilities.
The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) consists of core facility directors and professional staff who are users of the types of instruments described herein. In order to promote communication among its members, ABRF has conducted surveys of its membership concerning operations in core facilities [K.R. Williams, et al. (1988)] and it has submitted "unknown" test samples to its members for amino acid analysis and protein sequence analysis [Niece, R.L., et al. (1989), Crabb. J.W., et al. (1990). Speicher, D.W., et al. (1990), Tarr, G.E., et al. (1991), and Yuksal, K.U., et al., (1991)]. This study was intended to contribute to the continuing series of surveys to support core facilities, their users and administrators involved in core facility activities. The data presented here provide an objective evaluation of available equipment to potential users and to manufacturers an objective evaluation of their instrumentation by scientific and technical users.
Method and Materials
The survey was designed by the Executive Committee of ABRF in 1988 and was given to the Wisconsin Survey Research Laboratory (WSRL) which was responsible for survey distribution, collection and coding of responses in order to assure anonymity of the survey respondents. A survey subcommittee, since formed by ABRF, accepted the data for analysis.
Respondents were asked to list the instruments used in their laboratories and to rate each one according to the level of their satisfaction with instrument performance, maintenance and supplies from the manufacturer. They were also asked to include the number of working days in the last year that each instrument was inactive due to maintenance ("days down"), to identify HPLCs according to use, and each respondent was encouraged to provide written comments. Respondents were not asked to make direct comparisons between models or systems, but, rather, to make evaluations of instruments in use in their own facilities.
Results and Discussion
A total of 78 of the 98 core facility directors surveyed returned completed questionnaires for a response rate of 80%. In all, 555 instrument were described representing 133 different types from 36 different manufacturers. Of the 555 instruments listed, 88 were single listings of a particular model and 28 were listed only twice. The instrument types ranged from relatively simple (e. g., voltage regulator, injector valve) to moderately complex (e. g., ultracentrifuge, LC/mass spectrometer) and their ages ranged from new to more than 10 years old.
The results presented here are grouped into five categories: protein sequencers, amino acid analyzers, peptide synthesizers, oligonucleotide synthesizers, HPLCs and respondents' written comments. For simplification, results are expressed as the sum of "good and "excellent" responses (the two highest ratings) calculated as a percentage of N. the total number of responses to a question, with N shown in parentheses.
Protein/Peptide Sequencers
Protein sequencers fell into two categories; the micro, or gas-phase instrumentation [Hewick, et al (1981)], (at the time of this survey represented solely by 94 of the 470, 475, and 477 series of Applied Biosystems, Inc.), and the more classical Edman and Begg instrumentation [Edman and Begg, (1967], also denoted as liquid phase or "spinning-cup" (represented here by 12 of the 890 series of Beckman Instruments, Inc.).
Overall ratings as good or excellent
Performance Maintenance Supplies Overall* ABI 470 series 97% (82) 62% (77) 69% (81) 98% (82) Beckman 890s 83% (12) 83% (6) 67% (6) 75% (12)
*refers to overall impression.
98% of respondents gave a good to excellent rating overall for ABI 470 series sequenators, whereas 75% gave the same rating to the Beckman 890 series. No significant differences in this rating could be found among the various models of a given series.
Performance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Sensitivity Reproducibility Ease of Operation* ABI 470 series 98% (89) 93% (92) 76% (175) Beckman 890s 83% (12) 83% (12) 83% (24)
*software and hardware combined responses.
Among models of a series, no significant differences were detected for sensitivity. Overall, 470 series owners rated the sensitivity of their instruments higher than did 890 operators. With respect to ease of operation, the "good" and "excellent" response rate for the model 470 was 23 percentage points below the 475 and 477 models. In general, 890 owners rated their instruments easier to operate compared with the rating given by 470 series owners for the same category.
Maintenance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Service Parts Frequency Quality/Re- Availability Cost sponse Time ABI 470 series 85% (85) 88% (173) 94% (89) 16% (81) Beckman 890s 100% (9) 83% (21) 89% (9) 43% (7)
The results indicated a greater user satisfaction with the maintenance requirements by the 890 series but a slightly poorer rating for the quality and response of service. The best approval rating (94%) for service frequency among the 470 types was given to the 475. This was in accord with the low downtimes reported for this instrument (see below). In contrast, the high ratings for service frequency given for the 890 conflicts with the substantially longer downtimes reported. The reason for this apparent contradiction is not known. The lowest rating for frequency of service (67%) was given to all sequencers with on-line HPLC systems, perhaps reflecting their higher level of complexity.
A clear difference appeared in perception with regard to the cost of parts. Only 5 % (2 out 42) of the 470 owners felt the cost of parts could be characterized as good or excellent. For the 470 series users, a 63% approval rating was given for parts covered under warranty while the same parts were rated only 45% when obtained without warranty coverage. On the other hand, 890 series users gave a 71 % approval under warranty and a 100% approval for parts not covered by warranty.
Downtime per annum:
0-14 days 0-30 days average ABI model 470 61% (43) 81% (43) 15 (43) ABI model 475 80% (15) 93% (15) 9 (15) ABI model 477 84% (19) 95% (19) 17 (19) All on-line instruments 64% (7) 73% (7) 19 (7) Beckman 890 series 56% (9) 78% (9) 16 (9)
Amino Acid Analysis Systems
Equipment for amino acid composition analysis is grouped into two categories: systems based on precolumn and systems based on post-column derivatization techniques. Instruments of the post-column, ion-exchange type (22 total) consisted of the Beckman 6300n300 series (12), the 119-121 series (4), 5 Durrum instruments and a single Dionex D-502. Pre-column instruments (28 total) were represented by Applied Biosystems (13) and Waters Associates (13), both based on phenylisothiocyanate methods, and two Waters Associates 0-phthalaldehyde (OPA)-based instruments.
Overall ratings as good or excellent:
Performance Maintenance Supplies Overall* Post- 90% (19) 77% (13) 75% (16) 90% (19) column Pre-column 81% (24) 82% (22) 80% (25) 79% (24)
*refers to overall impression.
Amino acid analyzers employing post-column derivatization were given a 10% higher approval rating overall than were the pre-column instruments. Of the responding laboratories, 56% employed the pre-column chemistry while 44% were using the post-column technique. These values are similar to the 1987 operations survey figures of 58% and 42%, respectively [Niece, R.L., et al.(l989)]. In examining the results, it should be recognized that pre-column hardware has had a shorter period for development and perfection than has its post-column counterpart. Improvement in both
Performance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Sensitivity Reproducibility Operating Ease Pre-column ABI 420 80% (10) 64% (11) 63% (22) Waters PicoTag 92% (12) 69% (13) 79% (25) Post-column Beckman 92% (12) 100% (12) 88% (24) 6300/7300
*Software and hardware combined responses.
chemistries and hardware may yield more widespread satisfaction with pre-column techniques and would provide compelling reasons for acquiring this type of analyzer.
Among the user of post-column instruments, the majority felt that their equipment produced good to excellent sensitivity. The newer instrumentation scored higher with respect to operational ease of hardware and software as might be expected.
Maintenance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Service Parts Frequency Quality/Re- Availability Cost sponse Time Pre-column ABI 420 70% (10) 85% (20) 70% (10) 25% (8) Waters 75% (12) 74% (24) 77% (13) 58% (12) PicoTag Post-column Beckman 92% (9) 88% (24) 83% (12) 64% (11) 6300/7300
The results showed that users clearly felt the cost of parts for the model 420 was too high. Other results (not shown) indicated that 70% of ABI 420 users felt parts under warranty were good or excellent, as opposed to a 33% approval for parts not under warranty. Users of Waters PicoTag instrumentation gave 82% approval for parts under warranty and 67% approval for parts not under warranty, and owners of Beckman 6300n300 models gave 86% and 80% approval, respectively, on the same issue. No data were obtained for the remaining equipment.
Downtime per annum:
0- 14 days 0-30 days Average Pre-column ABI 420 78% (9) 100% (9) 7 (9) Waters PicoTag 69% (13) 85% (13) 11 (13) Post-column Beckman 92% (12) 92% (12) 12 (12) 6300/7300
Peptide Synthesizers
Over one-third of the laboratories responding (37 of 98) reported having at least one peptide synthesizer for a total of 47 instruments. Applied Biosystems instruments dominated the responses with 34 of the 47 peptide synthesizers. The majority of the ABI instruments were the model 430A. Only 2 of the ABI synthesizers were the lower cost but less versatile 431A. Of the remaining 11 peptide synthesizers, 8 were manufactured by Biosearch. The Biosearch instruments included two SAM 2 and two model 9500 (a SAM 2 with an updated controller) synthesizers. Also included were 4 model 9600 instruments (essentially a model 9500 with an added vessel for the production of symmetrical anhydrides). The other automated instruments that were reported in the
survey were a Beckman 9900, a Peptide International 2000 and a Vega 250B.
In addition, there were two manual peptide synthesizers reported: a Peninsula model 2 and DuPont RaMPS system. The instruments which were listed only a single time were not included in the data analysis. It should be noted that considerable changes in the
market have occurred since this survey was distributed. Beckman and Vega no longer offer peptide synthesis equipment and Biosearch has been incorporated into Milligen's product line. Several companies are offering new models of instruments for automated peptide synthesis. These include Milligen, Advanced Chemtech, Pharmacia-LKB and Rainin. Of the data reported in this survey, useful conclusions can only be drawn for ABI and Biosearch instruments due to the limited response concerning other brands of peptide synthesis equipment.
Overall ratings as good or excellent:
Performance Maintenance Supplies Overall* ABI 97% (25) 88% (25) 90% (29) 100% (28) Biosearch l00% (7) l00% (8) 84% (6) 100% (6)
*refers to overall impression.
All of the reported "overall" ratings for both the ABI and the Biosearch machines were either good or excellent. User satisfaction was high for all of the categories listed above with slight drops in satisfaction with supplies from both companies and maintenance for the ABI instruments.
Performance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Reproducibility Ease of operation Hardware Software ABI 97% (34) 91% (34) 81% (32) Bioscarch 100% (6) 100% (8) 100% (8)
The performance ratings for both manufacturers were high with a slight drop in satisfaction with software and hardware ease of operation with the ABI machines.
Maintenance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Repair Frequency Response Time Quality ABI 68% (28) 91% (32) 84% (32) Biosearch 86% (7) 100% (7) 100% (7) Parts Availability Cost With No Warranty Warranty ABI 90% (31) 20% (26) 84% (26) 53% (17) Biosearch 100% (7) 100% (7) 100% (3)
Differences between the two companies were observed for user satisfaction with the maintenance of peptide synthesizers. However, peptide synthesizers from both companies were down for maintenance for minimal periods during the course of a year (i.e., ABI average 12 days/year: Biosearch average 9 days/year), and the overall user satisfaction for both companies was high. Biosearch users appeared more satisfied with details of service. For example, ABI users were particularly dissatisfied with the cost of replacement parts with only a 20% "good" or "excellent" rating (76% of users responding). In addition, ABI users reported a higher level of satisfaction if they owned a service contract.
Supplies subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Cost Packaging Variety ABI 26% (27) 97% (32) 89% (27) Biosearch 84% (6) 84% (6) 100% (6)
The cost of supplies provided by the manufacturers of peptide synthesizers was also compared. Again, the users of ABI instruments were very dissatisfied (26% approval) with the cost of reagents offered for their peptide synthesizers, compared with o4% approval by Biosearch users. All users were well satisfied with the packaging and variety of supplies available.
Oligonucleotide Synthesizers
A total of 53 oligonucleotide synthesizers from four different manufacturers were described. The majority was from Applied Biosystems with 15 model 380A, 27 model 380B and 5 model 381A instruments. Two instruments from each of three companies, Biosearch, Pharmacia and Systec, were also described and are included in the data calculations for the group of all instruments.
Overall ratings as good or excellent:
Performance Maintenance Supplies Overall* ABI 380A 100% (14) 85% (13) 87% (l5) 93% (l4) ABI 380B 96% (25) l00% (22) 95% (22) 96% (23) All 94% (5o) 93% (46) 91% (46) 94% (48)
*refers to overall impression.
Performance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Ease of Operation Reproducibility Hardware Software ABI 380A 100% (l5) 80% (l5) 80% (l5) ABI 380B 96% (24) 96% (27) 96% (27) All 94% (48) 91% (53) 87% (53)
Maintenance subcategory ratings as good as excellent
Repair Frequency Response Time/Quality ABI 380A 77% (13) 93% (15) ABI 380B 95% (22) 98% (25) All 89% (45) 89% (48) Parts Availability Cost With No Warranty Warranty ABI 380A 93% (l5) 53% (l5) 71% (l4) 33% (9) ABI 380B 100% (24) 33% (21) 84% (19) 40% (l0) All 94% (48) 47% (45) 80% (40) 46% (26)
Supplies subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Cost Packaging Variety ABI 380A 33% (l5) 87% (l5) 93% (l4) ABI 380B 38% (24) 88% (25) 95% (20) All 37% (49) 88% (49) 93% (43)
The overall and the general category ratings for all of the oligonucleotide synthesizers listed indicated users were generally satisfied with their instruments. In the performance subcategories, ease of operation of both software and hardware was rated lower for the ABI 380A than for its replacement, the 380B. In fact, the 380B was rated higher than the 380A in almost all categories. However, more than half of the "poor" or "very poor" responses to ABI instruments were in the
Downtime per annum:
0-14 days 0-30 days Average ABI 380A (l3) l0 11 11 ABI 380s (27) 24 27 6 All (49) 43 47 7
categories of cost of maintenance and supplies, and the 380B instrument received such a rating more frequently than the 380A (12 versus 7 times). This response may reflect higher expectations for cost savings by purchasers of second-generation oligonucleotide synthesizers. Low ratings for cost of part, parts not under service contract and cost of supplies were common for all instruments.
For Applied Biosystems instruments there was no apparent association of the rating level or the number of days an instrument was down with the date of instrument installation. There were too few responses from the other suppliers to provide a meaningful comparison.
High Performance Liquid Chromatographs (HPLCs)
Of 233 HPLC responses, 191 covering four HPLC manufacturers were represented by numbers large enough to be included in the data analysis. Not included were instruments manufactured by: Brownlee MPLC (1), Gilson (1), Glenco (2), IBM (4), ISCO (1), Knauer (1), LDC (2), PerkinElmer (6), Pharmacia (3), Rainin (5), Shimadzu (2), SpectraPhysics (4) and Varian (10).
Overall ratings as good or excellent
Performance Maintenance Supplies Overall* All ABI (52) 93% (45) 85% (40) 87% (40) 92% (40) ABI 120A 92% (25) 76% (21) 87% (23) 91% (22) (28) ABI 130A 94% (16) 93% (15) 87% (16) 93% (14) (20) Beckman 91% (34) 73% (30) 86% (21) 85% (26) (36) HP (24) 86% (21) 81% (21) 88% (17) 87% (24) All Waters 88% (75) 86% (64) 80% (46) 85% (66) (79) Waters PP1 95% (22) 100% (22) 94% (16) 91% (22)
(23)
Performance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Ease of Operation Sensitivity Reproducibility Hardware Software All ABI 100% (50) 98% (51) 70% (50) 68% (47) (52) ABI 120A 100% (28) 100%(28) 59% (27) 65% (26) (28) ABI 130A 100% (19) 95% (19) 79% (19) 65% (17) (20) Beckman 72%(36) 69%(36) 78% (36) 67% (30) (36) HP (24) 96% (23) 96% (23) 82% (22) 50% (22) All Waters 90% (71) 85% (76) 92% (75) 67% (66) (79) Waters 91% (23) 96% (23) 96% (23) 71% (17) PP1 (23)
Maintenance subcategory ratings as good or excellent
Service Response Frequency Time Quality All ABI (52) 83% (48) 82% (40) 90% (40) ABI 120A (28) 74% (27) 79% (24) 87% (24) ABI 130A (20) 94% (17) 87% (16) 94% (16) Beckman (36) 72% (32) 69% (32) 65% (32) HP (24) 82% (22) 73% (22) 95% (22) All Waters (79) 88% (73) 75% (69) 73% (67) Waters PP1 (23) 91% (22) 90% (21) 95% (21) Parts Avail. Cost Extended No Warranty Warranty All ABI (52) 90% (48) 38% (42) 75% (36) 39% (23) ABI 120A (28) 85% (26) 33% (24) 68% (22) 25% (12) ABI 130A (20) 94% (18) 33% (15) 85% (13) 44% (9) Beckman (36) 90% (30) 54% (33) 70% (30) 70% (10) HP (24) 86% (22) 43% (21) 75% (12) 82% (17) All Waters (79) 83% (72) 43% (69) 73% (34) 78% (36) Waters PP1 (23) 91% (22) 9% (22) 70% (10) 83% (12)
Supplies ratings category:
Cost Packaging Variety All ABI (52) 35% (40) 87% (38) 66% (32) ABI 120A (28) 32% (25) 87% (23) 68% (19) ABI 130A (20) 40% (15) 87% (15) 61% (13) Beckman (36) 81% (27) 96% (23) 70% (23) HP (24) 29% (17) 76% (17) 88% (17) All Waters (79) 57% (54) 86% (49) 74% (38) Waters PP1 (23) 18% (17) 94% (16) 94% (16
Downtime per annum:
0-14 days 0-29 days Ave. days All ABI (47) 41 44 7 All Beckman (36) 32 33 6 HP(22) 17 21 9 All Waters (71) 53 65 11
In general, users were satisfied with the overall performance of their HPLCs, regardless of the manufacturer. All of the later models (installed after 1984) received "good" or "excellent" ratings from 84% or more of respondents. The least satisfaction was with ease of operation of software and cost of parts and supplies.
ABI HPLC owners gave the highest ratings for machine sensitivity and reproducibility, and the lowest ratings in those areas came from Beckman HPLC owners, especially those owning Beckman HPLCs installed before January 1, 1985 (58% and 63% approval for sensitivity and reproducibility, respectively, for 19 older Beckman instruments and 87% and 75% approval for 16 newer models). Waters HPLC owners found the hardware easiest to use, but owners of all HPLCs (except ABI 1 20A instruments) felt the software was more difficult to use than the hardware.
Greater than 80% of HPLC owners (except those owning Beckman HPLCs or ABI 120As) felt that repair frequency was good to excellent. ABI owners were most satisfied with field service response time, and they and owners of Hewlett Packard HPLCs were very pleased with the quality of service. Most all HPLC owners felt that they were being charged too much for parts, however, ABI HPLC owners whose machines were not covered by a warranty were particularly dissatisfied with regard to acquiring parts.
In all but 4 categories the 26 owners of older Waters HPLCs (installed before 1985) rated their instruments higher than the 43 owners of newer Waters HPLCs. The newer instruments were rated higher for sensitivity, ease of operation of hardware and software and parts not covered by warranty. The opposite trend was seen with Beckman HPLCs. The 16 owners of newer instruments rated their systems higher than the 19 owners of older instruments in all categories except parts not covered by warranty and variety of supplies.
Although Beckman HPLC owners were fairly satisfied with the cost of supplies, other HPLC owners felt the cost was too high. There was little dissatisfaction with packaging of supplies, and all but Hewlett Packard HPLC owners felt the variety of supplies offered could be improved.
The average number of days down was about the same for all groups of HPLCs at about 6-8 days per year with Waters HPLC down time being slightly greater at 11 days per year.
It is interesting to note that, although the ABI 120A and 130A are essentially the same machine, 120A owners, who bought their HPLCs as part of a protein sequencing package or update, were less satisfied than those who bought the 130A, particularly in the areas of hardware operational ease, all aspects of maintenance and cost of supplies.
With the exception of the ABI 120A, which was used for PTH analysis, there was no clear trend in HPLC usage for a particular model. However, it was clear that the core facilities responding to the survey rarely characterized DNA synthesis products by HPLC; only 9/233 or 4% of the machines described were used for this purpose.
Overall Evaluation by Instrument Type
When the numerical ratings for each instrument were averaged (1=excellent, 2=good, 3=fair, 4=poor and 5=very poor) the following table of overall ratings was generated. The number of responses for each instrument type is indicated in parentheses.
Instrument Overall Performance Maintenance Supplies Days Down Protein 1.5 1.5 1.6 1.8 15 Seq. (106) Amino Acid 1.9 1.7 2.0 2.0 24 Anal. (50) Peptide 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.6 21 Synth. (43) DNA 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.5 7 Synth. (53) HPLC (20) 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.9 9
Several conclusions may be drawn from the results presented here. First, core facility personnel were most satisfied with their DNA synthesizers and least satisfied with their amino acid analyzers, but all of the average ratings were better than "good". In general, user satisfaction was directly related to instrument down time in all cases except for HPLCs. HPLC average down time was 9 days, but this instrument type received the same overall rating as did peptide synthesizers with a 21 day average down time.
Written Comments
The survey provided a full page for comments by the recipients on areas that had not been fully addressed in the questionnaire. Of the 78 respondents, 42 used this opportunity to express themselves. Four of the responses were general in nature. However, all of the remainder provided specific comments concerning manufacturers' responsiveness, instrumentation performance, cost and quality of service and supplies. Frequently there were a variety of comments both positive and negative on the same subject. However, some general conclusions can be drawn in both a qualitative and quantitative sense.
At the time of this survey Applied Biosystems was the dominant supplier of instrumentation commonly used in the resource facilities sampled. It was therefore not surprising that they received the greatest attention. Of the 29 responses that could clearly be evaluated, 5 were very happy with the company's performance, 13 had both good and bad things to say and 10 had only negative comments. A prime candidate for dissatisfaction was the high cost of supplies, closely followed by the quality of field service and the performance of the model 900 protein sequencer programmer/data analysis system. In general the 470A protein sequencer and 120A on-line HPLC favorably evaluated. A total of 16 respondents complained about the high cost of supplies and/or service and all six comments on the model 900 were negative. In the case of service, 6 users were pleased and 8 users dissatisfied with the service of their instruments. The quality of service seemed to vary with the service representative and may be typified by the following comments: "This [good service] may be due to the good luck of having one good representative that has been with us for 3 years and understands our uses, needs and limitations" or [ABI] has discouraged self repair and response time for service has gone from excellent to very poor within the past year".
The other frequently mentioned manufacturer was Waters with respect to HPLC and amino acid analysis systems. Of the 17 responses that could clearly be evaluated, 5 were supportive of the company, 3 had both good and bad experiences and 9 were clearly negative. Instrument reliability and quality of service were the areas commented upon but too infrequently to provide objective evaluations.
Summary
Respondents providing the data for this report had no obvious pressures to provide any systematic bias. It is therefore likely that the data reported here reflect the overall level of satisfaction of the community of users of this instrumentation at the time the survey was taken. Instrument manufacturers might use the data reported here as one measure of the level of satisfaction among their users and users can compare their opinions of particular instruments with opinions of other users of the same instrument type .
Of all the instrument manufacturers listed by the survey respondents, Applied Biosystems was the most frequently cited (258 responses with the next highest number of responses, 96, evaluating instruments manufactured by Waters Associates). Owners of Applied Biosystems equipment made a clear statement through this survey that they felt the cost of parts and supplies was unnecessarily high. The nearly universal poor ratings in all categories related to operating costs probably reflects the intense pressures on resource facilities to provide their services at as low a cost as possible (and then some). They, in turn, were expressing their cost concerns to their suppliers.
The instrumentation used in biomolecular resource facilities is complex and requires a high degree of training for successful operation. Even so, the respondents to this survey gave high overall ratings to most of the instrument types reported. With the exception of the Beckman spinning-cup protein sequencers (overall rating, 75% responding "good" or "excellent"), an old method of protein sequencing, and amino acid analysis using precolumn derivatization (overall rating, 79% responding "good" or "excellent"), a fairly new method of amino acid analysis, the overall ratings for protein sequencers, amino acid analyzers, peptide synthesizers, oligonucleotide synthesizers and HPLCs (all HPLC ratings average together) ranged from 87% to 100% of responses being "good" or "excellent". These ratings indicate that directors and technical personnel in biomolecular resource facilities have a high degree of satisfaction with the instruments that they use daily.
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the 1988 executive committee of ABRF, Donna Atherton, Audrey Fowler, Rusty Kutny, Ronald J. Niece, Alan J. Smith and Kenneth R. Williams, for their efforts in creating this survey and collecting the original data.
References
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Ericsson, L.H., D. Atherton, R. Kutny, A.J. Smith and J.W. Crabb, "Realistic Expectations for Amino Acid Analysis" in Methods in Protein Sequence Analysis, H. Jornvall and J. O. Hoog, eds, Birkhauser, Basel, in press.
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Niece, R.L., L.H. Ericsson, A.V. Fowler, A.J. Smith, D.W. Speicher, J.W. Crabb and K.R. Williams, "Amino Acid Analysis and Sequencing-What is State-of the Art?" in Methods in Protein Sequence ~ , H. Jornvall and J.O. Hoog, eds., Birkhauser, Basel, in press.
Niece, R.L., C.M. Beach, R.F. Cook, G.M. Hathaway and K.R. Williams, "State-of-the-Art Biotechnology Core Facilities: A Comprehensive Survey", FASEB J. Submitted.
Spcichcr, D.W., G.A. Grant, R.L. Niece, R.W. Blacher, A.V. Fowlcr and K.R. Williams, "Design, Characterization and Results of ABRF-89SEO: A Test Sample For Evaluating Protein Sequencer Pcrformance in Protein Microchemistry Core Facilities" in Current l~esearch in Protein Chemistrv, J.J. Villafranca, ed., Academic Press, San Diego, 159-166, 1990.
Tarr, G.E., R.J. Paxton, Y. - U.E. Pan, L.H. Ericsson and J.W. Crabb, "Amino Acid Analysis 1990": The Third Collaborative Study from the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF), in Current Research in Protein Chemistry, J.J. Villafranca, ed., Academic Press, San Diego, 159-166, 1990.
Williams, K.R., R.L. Niece, D. Atherton, A.V. Fowler, R. Kutny and A.J. Smith, "The Size, Operation and Technical Capabilities of Protein and Nucleic Acid Core Facilities", FASEB J. 2: 31243130, 1988.
Yuksel, K.U., G.A. Grant, L.M. Mende-Mueller, R.L. Niece, K.R. Williams and D.W. Speicher, "Protein Sequencing from Polyvinylidenedifluoride Membranes: Design and Characterization of a Test Sample (ABRF-9OSEQ) and Evaluation of Results" in Techniques in Protein Chemistry II, J.J. Villafranca, ed., Academic Press, San Diego, 151-162, 1991.
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Created: 22nd October 1995
Last modified: 22nd October 1995