Fuhrman bequest funds Jess machine
Following a recent bequest, The School of Medicine has recently purchased a Jess Simple Western System which will enable research scientists to identify proteins and analyse their expression levels and understand their role in kidney cancer. In combination with other methodology, this will aid in providing biomarker signatures to further stratify treatments regimes for patients with kidney cancer.
The bequest came from Sylvia Fuhrman, the widow of Dr Murray Fuhrman and alumni of St Andrews. Dr Fuhrman was one of a group of Jewish Americans who came to St Andrews in the late 1920s and early 1930s when they were barred from US medical schools. That group were very generous to the School at around the time they retired. Silvia Fuhrman left the School a donation in memory of her late husband in her will. After consideration the School purchased a Jess Simple Western System.
Western blotting is an important technique used for protein analysis. It is a time-consuming process that is prone to error and variability. The Jess simple western system automates protein separation and immunodetection of traditional western blotting eliminating many of the error-prone steps and delivers fully analysed results in just 3 hours.
The improvements offered by Jess will enhance research by delivering fast, reliable, and quality data. Jess will be used to identify proteins and analyse protein expression levels in many diseases, including but not limited to cancer.
