Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
University of Waterloo
$95,389.00
Next generation sequencer
FY 2012-13
Summary
In order to understand how things work, scientists often need to look inside cells or at samples of tissues, to see what is changing when there is disease, or poor nutrition, or injury, or in healing and repair. Traditionally, we have had to guess what might be changing, and to look for changes in one thing at a time. This held true for lots of different questions. If we wanted to look at differences in people's DNA, we could only look at one little bit at a time. But - there are often very many little tiny differences in DNA between people, and it would be much more useful to be able to get a bigger picture, or look at lots of pieces at once. If we wanted to look at changes in the amount and sort of different RNAs that are in cells (ie. the blueprint that cells use to make up their structure, and to do the work) - we also had to do this by looking at one thing at a time. This was slow, but it also meant that we could miss a very important change, because we didn't know it was changing. If we wanted to look at how cells turn on their DNA to make things happen, we also had to test this one gene at a time. However, a new platform for rapidly analyzing all of these things is now available, called Next Generation (Next Gen) sequencing. Being able to see all of the things that are changing will help us to get a much bigger picture than before. This equipment will help lots of different researchers at the University of Waterloo, in different ways. Some of these people are studying how the brain works, from molecules to cells to the whole brain's ability to do electrical signaling. Others are studying what happens in people who are aging or have cancer. Some are trying to understand developmental problems in eyesight in kids. Others are interested in how changes during pregnancy affect offspring later on. Access to this powerful resource will help us to keep Canadian research at the leading edge, by taking us in directions that we could not previously have envisioned.
Program
Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
Recipient
Location
Ontario, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
439609-2013
Name nom
Duncan, Robin
Department département
Kinesiology
Organization id
33
Institution établissement
University of Waterloo
Province en
Ontario
Province fr
Ontario
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2012
Competition year année de concours
2013
Award amount
95389
Program id
EQPEQ
Program name en
Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
Program name fr
Outils et instruments de recherche - catégorie 1 (<150 000$)
Group en
Discovery grants programs
Group fr
Programmes de subventions à la découverte
Committee code
1501
Committee name en
Genes, Cells and Molecules
Committee name fr
Gènes, cellules et molécules
Area of application code
1201
Area of application group en
Advancement of knowledge
Area of application group fr
Avancement des connaissances
Area of application en
Life sciences (including biotechnology)
Area of application fr
Sciences de la vie (y compris biotechnologie)
Research subject code
5004
Research subject group en
Genetics
Research subject group fr
Génétique
Research subject en
Genome analysis
Research subject fr
Analyse du génome
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
Next generation sequencer
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
In order to understand how things work, scientists often need to look inside cells or at samples of tissues, to see what is changing when there is disease, or poor nutrition, or injury, or in healing and repair. Traditionally, we have had to guess what might be changing, and to look for changes in one thing at a time. This held true for lots of different questions. If we wanted to look at differences in people's DNA, we could only look at one little bit at a time. But - there are often very many little tiny differences in DNA between people, and it would be much more useful to be able to get a bigger picture, or look at lots of pieces at once. If we wanted to look at changes in the amount and sort of different RNAs that are in cells (ie. the blueprint that cells use to make up their structure, and to do the work) - we also had to do this by looking at one thing at a time. This was slow, but it also meant that we could miss a very important change, because we didn't know it was changing. If we wanted to look at how cells turn on their DNA to make things happen, we also had to test this one gene at a time. However, a new platform for rapidly analyzing all of these things is now available, called Next Generation (Next Gen) sequencing. Being able to see all of the things that are changing will help us to get a much bigger picture than before. This equipment will help lots of different researchers at the University of Waterloo, in different ways. Some of these people are studying how the brain works, from molecules to cells to the whole brain's ability to do electrical signaling. Others are studying what happens in people who are aging or have cancer. Some are trying to understand developmental problems in eyesight in kids. Others are interested in how changes during pregnancy affect offspring later on. Access to this powerful resource will help us to keep Canadian research at the leading edge, by taking us in directions that we could not previously have envisioned.
