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

We have requested a multi-purpose workstation that will be used by members of the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, and Neuroscience at Carleton University. This workstation will allow us to conduct large-scale genetic, metabolic, and physiological experiments. The proposed workstation includes a liquid handling robot to reliably set up hundreds to thousands of reactions, a microplate reader that will facilitate accurate measurement of metabolic, physiological, and other traits, and thermocyclers for genetic and gene-expression studies. A wide variety of experiments are planned for this infrastructure, including work on novel anti-microbials (Avis, Smith), plant biotechnology (Rowland), microbial evolution (Wong), and mouse neurobiology (Abizaid). The requested equipment will be part of a shared molecular biology facility housed in the Department of Biology, and will be readily accessible to the University's research community. This workstation will accelerate the research of each of the major users, and will contribute to the training of up to 25 trainees per year in the marketable and practical fields of microbiology, biotechnology, neuroscience, and biochemical research.