Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Research Programs/Scope of Projects: The requested surface plasmon resonance (SPR) instrument will allow for label-free detection and kinetic binding analysis for a variety of biomolecular interactions including protein-protein, protein-carbohydrate, protein-drug and protein-virus interactions. The new instrument will support early-career and well-established researchers, and their trainees, in the fields of biochemistry, chemistry, glycobiology, immunology, virology and neurology. Research Team: The SPR instrument will be shared by the NSERC-funded teams of the six co-applicants, with at least seven other groups expressing a need for this instrument for their research programs. All these research groups are located at Queen's University in two departments: Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, and Chemistry. The Capicciotti lab will use SPR to advance the understanding glycan-protein interactions and how glycosylation impacts protein-protein interactions, while the Gee and Colpitts labs will characterize immune and viral receptor-ligand recognition events. Protein-protein binding events involved in neuro-immune interactions will be examined by the Brennan lab, and the Howe and Lohans groups will apply SPR to study enzyme and protein interactions with small and large molecules substrates including plastics, drugs, and antibiotics. The Instrument and Need: A state-of-the-art benchtop SPR instrument that is capable of high throughput analysis using small sample volumes and has a user-friendly interface with an automated platform is requested. This will allow HQP to use the instrument after a short training session by the manager of the core facility in which it will be located. This instrument will facilitate efficient acquisition of binding data for multiple experiments simultaneously, offering an excellent training experience for HQP who can quickly obtain results to inform their research projects. There is an urgent need for a new SPR as our current instrument is 20 years old, suffers from breakdowns, and is not user-friendly as it requires a well-trained technician to run samples, meaning HQP can rarely use it. As such, we currently do not have appropriate instrumentation to support the many research programs needing to characterize biomolecular interactions. HQP Training: HQP from the six labs, and trainees across two departments, will gain direct hands-on experience using SPR to measure biomolecular interactions. SPR is considered a gold standard technique for studying the interactions of biomolecules. The instrument will allow HQP to conduct impactful research and become highly competitive for future jobs, as SPR is used in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, government and academic sectors. The use of this instrument will foster more inclusive and excellent training for our HQP, as the automated and user-friendly system will reduce training barriers of older systems that can only be operated by a technician or highly experienced user.