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

The requested equipment is called a microarray scanner. It is a system to capture data from DNA microrrays. Also known as DNA chips, microarrays are a series or organized genes on a microscope slide. There can be hundreds of thousands of genes represented on a single slide. Microarrays are a modern method to probe samples of RNA obtained from animal tissues, plants or microbes. In this way the level of activity ( e.g., gene expression) of these thousands of genes can be determined simultaneously. This is a very useful piece of equipment. It is essentially a laser detection methods to quantify the genes. The proposed research from the participating labs at the University of Ottawa ranges from animal physiology to environmental biology and microbiology. Many graduate and undergraduate students will use this equipment. This will be an essential part of their hands-on training in the Department of Biology and Department of Chemistry. Few students have this opportunity, so they will get specialized, highly sought-after training that will contribute to their development as new research scientists.