General purpose freeze dryer for food and nutrition research

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A freeze-dryer is a critical instrument that is required for proper conduct of biological science experiments. In order to obtain satisfactory results that meets peer-review standards, wet food and other biological samples must be dried in a way that conserves the biological and chemical properties. Therefore, samples are first frozen and then the ice removed in vapour form within a freeze-dryer system. In this way, the physical and chemical integrity of the samples are maintained, which enables scientific measurements of their functions and molecular characteristics. More importantly, bioactive compounds that need to be tested for potency in vitro and in vivo experiments must be processed by freeze-drying or else they lose their potency. Oven drying at any given temperature is unacceptable for our scientific research and is therefore, not an option. The objective of this application is to replace a 30-year old freeze-dryer that has broken down and cannot be repaired due to lack of parts arising from the fact that such an old model is no longer manufactured. The instrument will serve as a critical research tool that will be used to produce dried materials such as protein isolates, protein hydrolysates, bioactive peptides, bioactive natural product extracts, polyphenolics, animal tissues and feed components for animal experiments. The instrument will be used by four main research programs in nutrition and biological sciences to train at least one postdoctoral fellow, two research technicians, six graduate students and 4 undergraduate research interns on a yearly basis. Together, these NSERC-funded research programs will contribute to scientific knowledge, especially fundamental data on the mechanism of action of various bioactive compounds. Such knowledge development when combined with training of highly skilled personnel will enhance growth of the food and nutrition industry with significant economic returns to Canada.