General purpose freeze dryer for food and nutrition research

冷冻干燥机是正确进行生物科学实验所需的关键仪器。为了获得符合同行评审标准的令人满意的结果，湿食品和其他生物样品必须以保存生物和化学特性的方式干燥。因此，首先将样品冷冻，然后在冷冻干燥器系统内以蒸汽形式除去冰。通过这种方式，保持了样品的物理和化学完整性，从而能够对其功能和分子特征进行科学测量。更重要的是，需要在体外和体内实验中测试效力的生物活性化合物必须通过冷冻干燥处理，否则它们将失去效力。在任何给定的温度下进行烘干对我们的科学研究来说都是不可接受的，因此不是一种选择。本申请的目的是更换一台使用了30年的冷冻干燥机，该冷冻干燥机已发生故障，并且由于不再生产这种旧型号而导致零件短缺而无法维修。该仪器将作为一个关键的研究工具，将用于生产干燥材料，如蛋白质分离物，蛋白质水解物，生物活性肽，生物活性天然产品提取物，多酚，动物组织和动物实验的饲料成分。该仪器将用于营养和生物科学的四个主要研究方案，每年至少培训一名博士后研究员，两名研究技术人员，六名研究生和四名本科生研究实习生。总之，这些NSERC资助的研究计划将有助于科学知识，特别是关于各种生物活性化合物作用机制的基础数据。这种知识发展与高技能人才的培训相结合，将促进食品和营养行业的增长，为加拿大带来巨大的经济回报。

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.