Variable Mode Laser Scanner for Precise Imaging and Quantitation of Biomolecules

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Agricultural Genomics and Proteomics Unit (AGP Unit) in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science is a multi-user core facility supporting the research programs of over 100 users from The Livestock Gentec Group, The Swine Reproduction-Development Program, Alberta Innovates Phytola Centre, Canola Breeding Program, Poultry Research Group, Immunology, Food microbiology, Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals group, and collaborating scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Research is conducted on diverse topics such as: the role of gut microflora in beef and dairy cattle related to animal health, the application of genomics in livestock for traits related to meat quality and health (swine and cattle); epigenetic regulation during fetal development in porcine; dietic and epigenetic influences on changes in immune related genes in livestock species; understanding molecular mechanisms of host-microbial interactions; marker based discovery for canola and wheat breeding; genetic regulation of seed oil formation for producing value-added seed oils; molecular mechanism of plant responses to abiotic stress and microbiology of nutrigenomics. Innovative efforts are applied to improve reproductive performance of livestock, developing animal products with improved nutritional qualities, and creating crops with improved disease resistance and value added characteristics. All these applicants require a scanner for precise quantitation of proteins, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules through imaging of multifluorescent-, chemifluorescent-, and radioisotope-labeled samples. The research supported by this infrastructure will play an important role towards the future sustainability and profitability of Canadian agriculture industries, and training highly qualified personnel.