Gel documentation system

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In order to understand how things work, scientists often need to look inside cells or at samples of tissues, to see what is changing when there is disease, or poor nutrition, or injury, or in healing and repair. This is important for understanding how disease happens, how it is cured, and whether treatments are working. The life and death of cells is controlled by specialized little machines that are made up of proteins. Our DNA codes for these little proteins, and there are thousands of different ones that each do a different job in the body. Some of them transport food for cells, some of them transmit messages between organs, some of them carry oxygen or nutrients in the blood, and some of them mark damaged parts of tissues for repair. Higher or lower levels of these proteins, and changes in what these proteins look like, can be an indication of disease, or an indication that a treatment is working. Measuring levels and changes in specific body proteins, and changes in their structure, is critical to all life sciences, biomedical, and health research. In order to do this, we need gel documentation equipment. Having this equipment will help lots of different researchers at the University of Waterloo, in many different ways. Some scientists are studying how the brain works, and they need to be able to measure the levels of proteins involved in neuron firing and neuron branching, and in brain growth and repair. Others are studying whether changing levels of some proteins can make cancer cells more sensitive to conventional treatments. Some are trying to understand whether protein markers of Alzheimer's disease show up in blood and spit, and some are trying to understand developmental problems in eyesight in kids. Others are interested in how protein changes during pregnancy affect the health of their offspring later on. Access to this powerful resource is absolutely critical for life sciences research at the University of Waterloo, and will help us to keep Canadian research at the leading edge.