Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This proposal requests funding for a liquid scintillation counter to be installed in the Department of Chemistry at UBC. Scintillation counters allow counting of the amount of radioactive material in a sample by measuring the emission of alpha and beta particles. The principle research use of this instrument will be to help verify the successful synthesis of radio-labeled molecules (molecules in which one or more atoms is radioactive). These types of molecules are widely-used in medicine both as drugs and to help diagnose disease. Any modern laboratory must comply with all safety regulations. For those laboratories that handle radioactive materials for labeling, certain protocols must be followed to be in compliance with both Federal and Provincial laws. One of the simplest protocols that must be followed in the "wipe test", which measures residual radioactivity of equipment and the area surrounding the location of where isotopes were used. This test must be done according to guidelines to ensure that an accurate record is kept of use of radioactive materials. This application is to purchase a scintillation counter that is crucial to the advancement of knowledge in both biomedical applications as well as industrially relevant research.