Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Principal applicant (PA) Towler is submitting for consideration the purchase of an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). This apparatus enables researchers to determine the reactivity of bioactive materials. Simply, ICP-OES evaluates ion release from materials, which is then used to predict the environmental response to that material as a function of the quantity of ions released. This information directly relates to a material's degradability and likely bioactive response in vivo. *Towler's Clinical Materials & Diagnostics (CMD) lab is one of the most well-funded in Ryerson's Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS), with over C$2.6M in federal funds alone since commencement of his tenure in 2013 (C$1.8M from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, CIHR, and C$800k from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, NSERC). *The CMD's HQP (currently three post-doctoral fellows, six PhD and five MASc students) are developing novel glass and ceramic-based materials predominantly to benefit Canada's ageing population. Towler is the only faculty working in the glass and ceramics field in Ryerson and as a result, there is little in-house core equipment in his discipline.*Although Towler has purchased as much glass characterization equipment as his funds have allowed, there is still one critical piece of equipment he has neither been able to purchase nor find unfettered access to in the last five years, and that is ICP-OES. In order to:*1. minimize the drain of outsourcing such characterisation on federal funds, *2. maximise the quality and quantity of peer-reviewed output,*3. expand into new scientific areas, and *4. improve the HQP experience. *Towler is requesting funds for this essential piece of materials analysis equipment. *There is tremendous potential to improve the quality of science resulting from the CMD by accepting this request as it will have a knock on' effect on the HQP experience and increase the likelihood of their retention in academia and industry in Canada.*