High Precision Picolitre Solution Handling System Enabled with Accurate Droplet Dispensing

我们要求提供资金以购买机器人系统，该系统将以高精度将极小(即皮升)体积的液体重复分配到复杂的阵列中。这种设备将使研究人员能够加强他们对新的分子和纳米材料目标的发现和开发。化学家们将创造高通量技术来制备和评估新的分子或纳米级疗法的性质，既经济又环保的昆虫管理新试剂，以及增强质子或电荷传输的新材料。化学家还将开发新的技术，以提高我们对化学物种对人类微生物组的影响的了解。化学家和工程师将合作开发用于使用点医疗设备的更有效的生物传感器，用于高通量分子检测的低成本数字技术，以及便携式变色气体传感器。物理学家和化学家还将开发高通量技术，以了解分子物种在细胞生物力学、细菌新陈代谢和酶活性上的活动和功能。 微米级液体分配系统(PLDS)将包括图像识别软件、高分辨率工作台和摄像头，以使液滴与衬底特征对准，包括准确定位现有液滴上的液滴。PLD将以特定的时间间隔分配试剂并提取产品的精确样本量，使研究人员能够创建组合方法来优化合成过程(例如，改变催化剂类型和浓度)并分析其产品的性质。从这些分析中可以推断出反应动力学，以优化特定分子靶标、聚合物和纳米材料的制备。研究人员还将通过将产品的性质与这些产品的组成和结构联系起来，对合成靶标的设计有新的见解。 每年，40名高素质人员将接受实践培训，并接触可编程逻辑器件，使他们掌握使用机器人系统分配液体、优化合成过程、创造新的科学工具以及筛选结构与功能相关性的技能。 加拿大人将受益于新分子、材料和设备的开发，直接应用于医疗保健、环境管理和能源效率方面的现有挑战。具体的例子包括提高燃料电池和光伏能源效率的新材料，以及具有治疗应用的新纳米材料和分子。其他例子包括用于检测有毒气体或新的疾病状况标志的新的使用点传感器，以及在生物物理、生物化学、材料化学和物理化学方面创造新知识的平台。

We request funding to purchase a robotic system that will reproducibly dispense extremely small (i.e., picolitre) volumes of liquids into complex arrays with a high degree of accuracy. This equipment will enable researchers to enhance their discovery and development of new molecular and nanomaterial targets. Chemists will create high-throughput techniques to prepare and evaluate the properties of new molecular or nano-scale therapies, new reagents for insect management that are both economically and environmentally sound, and new materials for enhanced proton or charge transport. New techniques will also be developed by chemists to improve our knowledge of the influences of chemical species on the human microbiome. Chemists and engineers will collaboratively develop more effective biosensors for point-of-use medical devices, low-cost digital techniques for high throughput molecular detection, and portable colour-changing gas sensors. Physicists and chemists will also develop high throughput techniques for understanding the activity and function of molecular species on cellular biomechanics, bacterial metabolism, and enzyme activity. The pico-scale liquid dispensing system (pLDS) would include image recognition software, a high resolution stage, and cameras to align droplets with substrate features, including accurately positioning droplets on existing drops. The pLDS would dispense reagents and withdraw precise sample volumes of the products at specified time intervals, allowing researchers to create combinatorial approaches to optimize synthetic processes (e.g., varying catalyst types and concentrations) and to analyze the properties of their products. Reaction kinetics could be inferred from these analyses to optimize the preparation of specific molecular targets, polymers and nanomaterials. Researchers will also gain new insight into the design of synthetic targets by correlating the properties of their products to the composition and structure of these products. On an annual basis, >40 highly qualified personnel will receive hands-on training and access to the pLDS, giving them skills in the use of robotic systems to dispense liquids, to optimize synthetic processes, to create new scientific tools, and to screen structure-function correlations. Canadians will benefit from the development of new molecules, materials, and devices with direct applications to existing challenges in healthcare, environmental management, and energy efficiency. Specific examples include new materials that improve the energy efficiency of fuel cells and photovoltaics, and new nanomaterials and molecules with therapeutic applications. Additional examples include new point-of-use sensors for detecting either toxic gases or new markers of disease conditions, and platforms to create new knowledge in biophysics, biochemistry, materials chemistry and physical chemistry.