Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

SUMMARY Requested equipment. Prof. Krylov's research aims at the development of bioanalytical methods which are mainly based on capillary electrophoresis (CE). CE is a technique that separates molecules with unbeatably high efficiency in a narrow capillary by applying a very high voltage to its ends. The development of CE-based bioanalytical and biomedical technologies is impossible without an automated CE instrument which can: (i) separate biomolecules, such as proteins, DNA, and RNA in their non-denatured states, (ii) reliably detect them even if they are at very low concentrations, and (iii) collect them into separate fractions at the capillary end. The present grant application requests support for acquiring such an instrument. The proposed equipment will be the main research tool in Prof. Krylov's lab, and 100% of its capacity will be utilized by this group for internal and collaborative projects. Research activities to be enabled by requested equipment. The instrument will be used to make major technological advances in three areas. The first area is identification and validation of leads for classic small-molecule drugs. The second area is discovery and quality control of biopharmaceuticals, which are large-molecule drugs obtained from cells. The third area is discovery, validation, and clinical use of non-genomic cancer biomarkers, such as microRNAs, recently discovered regulators of cellular processes. The research in these three areas is motivated by well-recognized deficiencies of technologies available for development of small-molecule drugs, biopharmaceuticals, and cancer biomarkers. The research program is built upon multiple externally supported research projects that are collaborative efforts of several academic groups, pharmaceutical companies, and hospitals. Why and to whom the research activities are important. The expected outcomes will benefit Canadian pharmaceutical companies by streamlining early stages of drug development. They will also benefit Canadian cancer hospitals by providing them with novel highly-enabling analytical tools for cancer detection and prediction of cancer response to treatments. Eventually, the outcomes will benefit the Canadian economy and Canadians who will be receiving new drugs and new modalities of cancer detection. The research supported by the proposed instrument involves a diverse group of trainees at all levels: undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. It will provide them with a unique opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience with advanced analytical instrumentation. The skills to be obtained are highly relevant to the modern pharmaceutical industry and cancer-care providers. Impact of a delay in acquisition of the requested equipment. The inability to obtain the proposed equipment will stall Prof. Krylov's highly productive research program and stop progress of his graduate students and postdoctoral fellows towards completion of their training.