Bio-Plex to support basic research

我们正在申请一个Bio-Rad Bio-Plex来支持三名NSERC资助的研究人员和另外五名来自圭尔夫大学人类健康与营养科学（HHNS）和家庭关系与应用营养（FRAN）系的用户的研究。申请人进行基础脂质研究，以了解脂肪酸影响全身生理，免疫，代谢和细胞信号传导的机制。了解作用机制的一个重要方面是测量循环激素、细胞因子和生长因子形式的蛋白质，这些蛋白质介导脂肪酸和细胞内蛋白质（如调节蛋白、激酶和磷酸酶）的下游作用。为了满足这一需求，我们在过去的15年里一直依靠Bio-Plex仪器。然而，这一仪器已经大大超过了它的使用寿命，现在正遭受反复和近乎灾难性的故障。维修费用已高得令人望而却步，而且由于机组年事已高，供应商已停止提供服务。缺乏可靠的Bio-Plex仪器已经造成HQP培训的延误，并阻碍了新研究的开展。鉴于Bio-Plex在我们的研究项目中的重要作用，我们迫切需要一种替代仪器，以避免对我们的研究能力、生产力和HQP培训产生重大负面影响。Bio-Plex技术一直处于技术的前沿，能够同时测量循环中的多个蛋白质靶点和单个样品中的细胞内信号级联。与ELISA和western blotting相比，Bio-Plex的高通量（一次80个样品）和多路复用能力赋予了其增加容量、降低成本和分析速度的关键优势，并且由于这些原因，它仍然是行业领先的仪器。收购Bio-Plex将支持以下领域的前沿研究：(1)脂肪酸代谢及其调节膜结构、基因表达、蛋白质表达和细胞信号传导的机制（Ma博士）；(2)代谢、免疫和炎症过程中脂肪因子和免疫细胞源性细胞因子的调节（Robinson博士）；（iii）脂肪酸和微生物代谢物调节肠道屏障细胞完整性和功能的分子和细胞信号机制。申请人有高生产力和合作研究项目，在过去6年中有27篇共同撰写的出版物，其中20篇使用了Bio-Plex。所要求的Bio-Plex还将支持每年培训来自三个申请人实验室以及另外五个用户实验室的大约33名高素质人员。总的来说，使用Bio-Plex分析蛋白质的能力对我们的研究项目至关重要，也是许多高素质人才培训环境的重要方面。

We are requesting a Bio-Rad Bio-Plex to support the research of three NSERC funded investigators and an additional five users in the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences (HHNS) and Family Relations and Applied Nutrition (FRAN) at the University of Guelph. The applicants conduct fundamental lipid research to understand mechanisms by which fatty acids influence whole body physiology, immunology, metabolism and cell signaling. An important aspect of understanding mechanisms of action is the measurement of proteins in the form of circulating hormones, cytokines and growth factors that mediate the downstream actions of fatty acids and intracellular proteins such as regulatory proteins, kinases and phosphatases. To address this need, we have relied on a Bio-Plex instrument for the past 15 years. However, this instrument has greatly exceeded its lifespan and is now suffering repeated and near catastrophic failure. Repair costs have become prohibitive and the supplier has ceased to provide service due to the unit's advanced age. Lack of reliable access to Bio-Plex instrumentation is already causing delays in HQP training and preventing the initiation of new studies. Given the essential role of the Bio-Plex in our research programs, we urgently require a replacement instrument to avoid significant negative impact on our research capabilities, productivity and HQP training. Bio-Plex technology continues to be at the forefront of technologies enabling the simultaneous measurement of multiple protein targets in circulation and intracellular signaling cascades within a single sample. The high throughput (80 samples at a time) and multiplexing capabilities of the Bio-Plex confer key advantages for increased capacity, reduced cost and speed of analyses relative to ELISA and western blotting, and it continues to be an industry leading instrument for these reasons. Acquisition of the requested Bio-Plex will support leading edge studies in (i) fatty acid metabolism and the mechanisms by which they modulate membrane structure, gene expression, protein expression and cellular signalling (Dr. Ma), (ii) regulation of adipokines and immune cell-derived cytokines in metabolic, immune and inflammatory processes (Dr. Robinson), and (iii) the molecular and cellular signalling mechanisms through which fatty acids and microbial metabolites regulate intestinal barrier cellular integrity and function (Dr. Monk). The applicants have highly productive and collaborative research programs, with 27 co-authored publications in the last 6 years, and 20 of these utilizing the Bio-Plex. The requested Bio-Plex will also support training of ca. 33 high quality personnel per year from the three applicants' laboratories as well as from five additional users' labs. Overall, the ability to analyze proteins using the Bio-Plex is essential to our research programs and an important aspect of the training environment for many high-quality personnel.