Imaging system for DNA, RNA and proteins

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The equipment requested is a state-of-the-art documentation system that meets urgent needs for research programs supported by operating grants from the CIHR or the NSERC. In addition to the 6 investigators and their research teams, the equipment will be available to all research teams of the department. Over 40 people, including graduate students, postdocs, technicians and research assistants will be using this equipment on a routine basis. In addition, several undergraduate students, more than 25 every year, are performing research in our laboratories as part of their undergraduate studies in microbiology and immunology. As a documentation system per se, the equipment saves time and gives added senstivity in various applications, radioactive and nonradioactive alike. It also allows easier replacement of radioisotope-based approaches by safer nonradioactive alternatives. In addition to documentation per se, the equipment allows quantitative analysis of the results in various applications pertinent to our respective research programs. Development of cellular and molecular biology approaches in microbiology and immunology requests precise and reproductible quantitative analysis of results, in order to generate solid conclusions. Such approaches are routinely requested by the top scientific journals in which our members are regularly publishing, and the requested equipment is probably the most widely accepted in such applications. Acquisition of this equipment will thus considerably improve the productivity of our research supported by operating grants, including 8 different currently active NSERC-supported research grants.