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

Understanding pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and immunogenicity is a key to the design and synthesis of novel drug delivery systems for modern medicine. There exist extensive efforts in drug delivery studies at the University of Waterloo, topics including design of effective delivery vehicles, interaction between drug and vehicle molecules, vehicle targeting and biorecognition, effective unloading and drug release, and in vitro drug delivery efficacy. Other research proposed here is on lithium-ion batteries and advanced electronics materials, where precise material design and fabrication of electrodes, printed organic electronics and integrated circuits require high resolution imaging and manipulation. The current 5 applicants are at the forefront of their respective disciplines, and actively involved in various aspects of the development of drug delivery and microelectronics systems. The requested equipment is a multipurpose atomic force microscope; it allows the simultaneous incorporation of microscopic techniques and single-point spectroscopic, electric and potential sensing techniques in one AFM unit, providing the ability to locate the carrier-drug complexes inside the cultured cell, and guide the molecular design of microelectronics devices. Over 50 graduate students and post doctoral fellows will be trained with and using the requested AFM in a multidisciplinary research environment.