A temperature controlled fluorescence microplate reader

我的研究项目是关于控制大分子的行为，比如聚合物和蛋白质在溶液中的行为。例如，通过改变存在的离子浓度，人们可以使长链坍塌成球状。人们还可以控制它们是否聚集成有趣的结构。我们感兴趣的是能够使用这种纳米级的控制来设计具有特定性质的材料。为了检验这些效应，人们必须研究许多不同类型和组合的分子，并在不同的浓度下工作。这项任务似乎令人望而生畏，除非一个人可以同时做很多实验。我们已经开发出一种方法，使我们能够以高吞吐量进行实验。所要求的设备，微通道板阅读器，在这方面很重要，因为它将允许我们同时观察100个或更多的实验。

My research program is about control of the behaviour of large molecules, such as polymers and proteins, in solution. For example, by changing the concentrations of ions that are present, one can make long chains collapse into globules. One can also control whether or not they aggregate into interesting structures. We are interested in being able to design materials with specific properties using this kind of control at the nanoscale. To examine these effects, one has to work with many different types and combinations of molecules, and at different concentrations. The task appears daunting, unless one can do many experiments at a time. We have developed an approach that will allow us to conduct experiments at high throughput. The equipment requested, a microchannel plate reader, is important in this regard, in that it will allow us to look at a hundred or more experiments concurrently.