The Protein Characterization Lab (PCL) is engaged in research that can be described as "targeted functional proteomics." We are looking specifically at how structure affects the function of recombinant proteins that are being produced by a genetically modified organism, be it a transgenic animal, a CHO cell line, a yeast cell line, or bacterial cell line. The PCL routinely uses FPLC, HPLC, SDS PAGE, isoelectric focusing, immunoassays, mass spectrometry, and enzyme assays to characterize the proteins.