Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Nanoparticles (NPs)--both synthetic and biological in origin--continue to grow in importance as enabling materials for research, health care, and numerous industries. They are also materials of interest and concern in the environment. This proposal requests funding to purchase a multi-wavelength nanoparticle tracking analyzer (?NTA) instrument that will provide the technical means for essential characterization of nanoparticle (NP) and extracellular vesicle (EV) size distributions and concentrations. The single-wavelength NTA instrument that is currently available to the applicants has become obsolete and unreliable. Its measurement capabilities no longer meet the requirements for the research programs of the applicants and other users. Moreover, multiple recurring technical problems and repairs and discontinued vendor support have signalled that the end of life for the current NTA is imminent. The requested ?NTA instrument will address both of these concerns and ensure that the four applicants (and at least seven other research groups) maintain access to a critical research tool, and gain improved performance that enables and provides more accurate data for their latest research projects and directions. This research strongly depends on being able to measure the concentrations and hydrodynamic size distributions of diverse NP samples that can be highly polydisperse, non-fluorescent and fluorescent, single-colour or multi-colour in their fluorescence--and do so in a manner that avoids carryover and contamination between samples. The requested ?NTA instrument is the only instrument that addresses all of these needs and would be the first of its kind in British Columbia. The requested ?NTA instrument will be part of the Shared Instrument Facility in Chemistry at UBC. Historical usage of the obsolete and soon-to-be-defunct NTA forecasts that the new ?NTA instrument will be used by 11+ research groups, 65+ high-qualified personnel (HQP), several national and international academic collaborators, and multiple companies in the Vancouver area over the next three years. Equitable training and access to the instrument will be prioritized by an experienced facility manager who will provide HQP with individualized hands-on training in instrument operation and data analysis. All HQP will be trained to run and process their own samples, where these HQP will include undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers, and students in an upper-year undergraduate laboratory course. Experience with ?NTA will be a highly employable skillset for HQP: no less than 7 companies in the greater Vancouver area develop products and technologies that require or benefit from NTA measurements. Overall, the requested ?NTA instrument is urgently need to maintain, sustain, and grow cutting-edge research and training programs in the areas of materials and biomaterials science, biomedical technologies for diagnostics and therapeutics, and environmental science.