Lyophilization equipment

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Lyophilization (freeze-drying) is a technique routinely used to remove moisture from frozen biological samples and foodstuffs using a combination of low temperature and pressure.  As a means of preservation, freeze-drying is ideal for samples that are sensitive to the higher temperatures usually required for evaporation or dehydration, including many compounds important for flavor, texture and color, of foods, as well as enzymes and other biological molecules.  Our research is primarily focused on characterizing enzymes which are involved in lipid metabolism in plants and animals, with the overall goals of increasing the seed oil content of important Canadian oilseed crops (i.e., canola, flax), increasing the amounts of nutritionally important fatty acids (i.e., mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids) in seed oils, meat and milk products, and developing healthy seed oils that do not require hydrogenation (i.e., for production of trans fat free products).  In our pursuit of these objectives, we are investigating the structure and function of various oil-building enzymes, including the processes that govern the control of these enzymes.   These experiments routinely use protein extracts from plant or animal tissues containing naturally-occurring lipids which can interfere with measurements of enzyme activity.  Freeze-drying is therefore used, not only as a means of preserving the enzyme activity under study, but also in a procedure to make tissue samples more amenable to removal of interfering lipids using organic solvents.  The freeze-drying equipment is of paramount importance in our research on understanding the action of oil-building enzymes which in turn will contribute to the development of a range of value-added products for both food and non-food applications.