Refrigerated tabletop centrifuge with microplatz capacity for use in DNA sequencing and other molecular genetic studies

我们的研究使用遗传技术来回答关于动物进化、发育和繁殖的各种问题。例如，我们调查了：1)一些北美淡水鱼的进化关系和遗传种群结构；2)缝隙连接的组成蛋白--连接蛋白在胚胎发育和组织维持中所起的作用；3)蚊子和其他害虫的发育和繁殖。我们使用的许多技术都涉及广泛的DNA测序。尽管DNA测序过去非常劳动密集型，但现在这个过程在很大程度上是自动化的，可以在短时间内对大量样本进行测序。去年，植物学、微生物学、马尼托巴大学的动物学获得了NSERC研究工具和仪器公司的拨款，以购买一台自动测序仪。目前的提案寻求为一台冷藏离心机提供资金，这将使我们能够准备大量样本进行测序。*一台可以旋转96孔板的离心机将使我们能够充分利用新的自动测序仪的高通量能力。

Our research uses genetic techniques to answer a variety of questions regarding animal evolution, development, and reproduction.  For example, we investigate: 1) the evolutionary relationships and genetic population structure of a number of North American freshwater fishes; 2) the roles that connexins, the constituent proteins of gap junctions, play in embryonic development and tissue maintenance; and 3) development and reproduction in mosquitoes and other pest insects.  Many of the techniques we use involve extensive DNA sequencing.  Although DNA sequencing used to be very labour-intensive, the process is now largely automated and sequencing of a large number of samples in a short period of time is possible.  Last year, researchers in the Departments of Botany, Microbiology, and Zoology at the University of Manitoba received an NSERC Research Tools and Instruments grant to purchase an automated sequencer.  The current proposal seeks funding for a refrigerated centrifuge that would allow us to prepare a large number of samples for sequencing.  A centrifuge that can spin 96-well plates will allow us to take full advantage of the high-throughput capabilities of the new automated sequencer.