Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The long-term objectives of my NSERC research program are to understand the interaction between metabolism and inflammation in humans. Using an integrative physiology approach where exercise and nutritional interventions are used to alter metabolism and study the resultant effects on hormones, cytokines, metabolites and immune cell function, we advance understanding of the mechanisms underlying how metabolism and inflammation are integrated. The short-term objectives of my accompanying NSERC Discovery Grant renewal are:*1) To determine how exercise intensity and pattern impact anti-inflammatory cytokine function, and the mechanisms involved *2) To determine how nutritional ketosis impacts immune cell phenotype and function *Specific, valid, and reliable assessment of hormones and cytokines are clearly essential for my research as they are measured in every study, typically as the major outcomes. Several other NSERC-funded researchers at our institution also need these capabilities, including collaborators Dr. A. Klegeris (who studies immunological aspects of neuron-glial interactions) and Dr. Sanjoy Ghosh (who researches the impact of dietary fatty acids on inflammation and metabolism). Their work requires high-sensitivity peptide detection from various sample types often with limited volumes (e.g., cell culture supernatants, cell/tissue lysates, and mouse plasma). The Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) MESO Quickplex SQ20 platform and the establishment of the UBC Okanagan Peptide Detection System is needed to provide our research programs with the most cutting-edge, highly sensitive, and specific technology for detecting peptides (hormones and cytokines) in biological samples.*This new research instrument will enable our research teams to measure circulating cytokines and hormones at an increased sensitivity of ~3 to 30-fold higher than current systems. This is essential because many cytokines (small peptides that are released from cells and function as inflammatory communicators) are present in very low concentrations in the blood. In order to understand how exercise and nutritional manipulations influence these cytokines a high-sensitivity assay detection system is needed to be able to measure them. Over 20 highly qualified personnel from several labs will use the equipment regularly gaining valuable biochemical assay experience with application to human physiology, metabolism, and immunology. Enhancing the ability to measure circulating cytokines and hormones with this new research instrument will yield new insights into the fundamental integration between metabolism and inflammation in humans.