ATR-FTIR microscope and fluid cell for tracking hierarchical assembly of molecules to materials

基于NSERC资助的几个项目的迫切需求，我们建议购买一台带有ATR物镜和偏振器的FTIR显微镜，用于研究生物聚合物和聚合物材料，以及一个耦合的ATR流体流动池，用于研究生物聚合物/聚合物溶液。这些特殊功能提供了一站式设备，能够以光谱方式跟踪从前驱体溶液到分层结构材料的整个材料制造过程。例如，ATR物镜将能够在不破坏样品制备的情况下对异质生物组织进行局部光谱测量，而偏振相关光谱提供关于分层结构材料中各向异性分子排列的信息。此外，ATR流体流动池可以对不同缓冲条件/温度下的稀溶液或ATR晶体上流动的溶液进行小体积测量，以原位观察结构变化。 在拟议的研究项目中，这一基础设施将能够：1)表征生物材料组装过程，并利用提取的原则生产可持续的生物灵感材料和组织支架(哈林顿)。2)分析用于生产包括可穿戴电子设备和传感器在内的智能设备的重组蛋白质构件(Dorval Courchesne)。3)研究禽类模型系统中的患病骨骼，以开发和评估特定的靶向治疗(Willie)。这项工作在健康和可持续材料两个主要领域有切实的好处。A)阐明病变组织的性质并生成分级结构的组织支架的努力将对组织工程和再生医学领域产生重要影响，使加拿大老年人受益。B)塑料垃圾堆积是一个主要的环境威胁。我们努力了解可持续生产的生物材料的组装原理，可能会激发对环境具有切实影响的先进材料的更绿色制造工艺，使加拿大成为绿色材料革命的世界领导者。 此外，所需的基础设施将在研究小组内提供基本的HQP培训。这是他们接受全面的跨学科培训不可或缺的一部分，提供了学术、工业和卫生部门追逐的技能。目前缺乏具备这些必要参数的设备，这严重阻碍了哈林顿和威利小组的一些HQP项目，而使用这一基础设施将填补Dorval-Courchesne研究的一个重大空白。这一基础设施将在上述研究计划之外受益，因为它将与哈林顿共同担任主任的麦吉尔先进材料研究所(MIAM)联系在一起，从而惠及蒙特利尔材料界。

Based on urgent needs within several NSERC-funded projects, we propose to purchase an FTIR microscope with ATR objective and polarizer for investigating biopolymeric and polymeric materials and a coupled ATR fluid flow cell for investigating biopolymer/polymer solutions. The special features provide a one-stop device capable of following an entire material fabrication process spectroscopically from precursor solution to hierarchically structured material. For example, an ATR objective will enable local spectral measurements on heterogenous biological tissues without damaging sample preparation, while polarization dependent spectra provide information about anisotropic molecular arrangement in hierarchically structured materials. In addition, an ATR fluid flow cell enables small volume measurements of dilute solutions under different buffering conditions/temperature or flowing solutions over the ATR crystal to observe structural changes in situ. Within the proposed research projects, this infrastructure will enable: 1) Characterization of biological material assembly processes and the use of extracted principles to produce sustainable bio-inspired materials and tissue scaffolds (Harrington). 2) Analysis of recombinant protein building blocks towards production of smart devices, including wearable electronics and sensors (Dorval Courchesne). 3) Investigation of diseased bone in an avian model system toward development and assessment of specific targeted treatments (Willie). This work has tangible benefits in two main areas health and sustainable materials. a) Efforts to elucidate the nature of diseased tissue and to generate hierarchically structured tissue scaffolds will have an important impact in the areas of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with benefits for aging Canadians. b) Waste accumulation from plastics is a major environmental threat. Our efforts to understand the assembly principles of sustainably produced biological materials may inspire greener fabrication processes for advanced materials with tangible environmental impacts, establishing Canada as a world leader in the Green Materials revolution. In addition, the requested infrastructure will provide essential hands on training of HQP within the research groups. This is integral to the well-rounded cross-disciplinary training they receive, providing a skillset sought after in the academic, industrial and health sectors. The current lack of availability to a device with these necessary parameters has significantly impeded a number of HQP projects in the Harrington and Willie groups, while access to this infrastructure will fill a major gap in the research of Dorval-Courchesne. This infrastructure will benefit beyond the described research plans, as it will be associated with the McGill Institute of Advanced Materials (MIAM) of which Harrington is a co-director, thus reaching the Montreal materials community.