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

The purpose of this application is to request a UV-Vis spectrophotometer, which represents a basic and essential instrument for any molecular biology and biochemistry lab. These instruments are used frequently to determine the concentration of DNA and protein samples, or the density of bacterial cell cultures, for example, which are important measurements for many procedures employed in our lab. We currently have access to two older UV-Vis spectrophotometers in the Faculty of Science at WLU. However, continued reliance on these instruments is not feasible for several reasons. First, the location of one of the available instruments makes its use on a regular basis impractical. The second instrument is more conveniently located; however, it is heavily used, and is therefore often unavailable. Furthermore, our reliance on the existing instruments has increased with the size of my lab group, and pressure on both instruments is increasing due to expansion of research activities in Biology at WLU and the Faculty of Science in general. Because of its central importance to my research program, I have therefore requested funds for the acquisition of a UV-Vis spectrophotometer to be housed within my laboratory. This will eliminate our reliance on the older instruments, and will relieve some of the pressure from those instruments as well, which are currently oversubscribed and becoming less realiable. I have requested a NanoDrop ND-2000c, which is a microvolume spectrophotometer. Microvolume spectrophotometry technology eliminates the need to transfer samples to a cuvette, and allows absorbance of the sample to be measured directly usually without dilution. For this reason, sample volumes as small as 0.5 µl can be used, thereby saving valuable sample and time which can be devoted fto more important applications. The NanoDrop ND-2000c is specifically requested, as it also has the capacity to measure absorbance using the more traditional cuvette-based approach, which is required for some sample types that are not amenable to the direct ""nanodrop"" method of measurement. The instrument will be made available to other researchers in the Faculty of Science at Wilfrid Laurier University.