Acquisition of an ultracentrifuge

由NSERC资助的卡尔顿大学健康科学、神经科学和化学系研究人员的研究计划因缺乏容易获得的超离心机而受阻。至少8名早期、中期和资深国际公认的科学家及其团队的原创和高度创新的研究计划在没有现代化和可访问的超离心机的情况下受到了损害。申请者和使用者研究计划的关键方面依赖于超速离心法来研究不同的生物学问题。不幸的是，卡尔顿唯一可用的超离心机是一个有20多年历史的贝克曼单位。一个关键问题是，目前的超离心机位于Nesbitt Biology大楼内，距离申请者和用户团队占用的大楼约0.6公里，因此限制了其进入和使用。样品在建筑物之间的移动极大地增加了样品降解的机会，或者对于许多实验方法来说是完全不可能的。此外，这台离心机不支持申请者及其团队使用的现代实验方法所需的先进离心法。使用位于健康科学大楼的超速离心机进行拟议的实验将极大地增加研究人员可获得的实验条件的数量以及实验的重复性。这反过来将最大限度地收集数据，降低成本，并极大地加快所有共同申请者的研究。此外，强大的模拟工具和软件的可用性将允许在运行前对协议进行优化，以确保最大效率。重要的是，这将节省时间和样本，这对患者提取的样本尤为关键。在本申请中，我们为Carleton的几个研究小组申请资金，用于购买Beckman Optima XPN-100超速离心机平台。所要求的系统是一种负担得起且易于使用的超离心机，能够显著推进卡尔顿的基础分子和细胞生物学研究。这一平台的另一个主要优势，特别是对于拟议的多用户业务，是其可定制的用户登录以及编程和联网能力，允许远程预订、监测和控制。因此，XPN-100将为我们目前的分离提供最先进的离心机平台，从而填补我们大学的一个重要技术空白，同时也极大地增强了我们开发新程序的能力。这一基础设施还将使我们能够在我们的机构内部以及与当地、国家和国际的外部合作者建立新的研究伙伴关系。因此，这将极大地提高我们在国家和国际层面的研究项目的资金竞争力，增强我们的研究能力和HQP的培训。

The NSERC-funded research programs of researchers from Health Sciences, Neuroscience, and Chemistry departments of Carleton University have been hindered by the absence of a readily accessible ultracentrifuge. The original and highly innovative research programs of at least 8 early, mid-career and senior internationally-recognized scientists and their teams are compromised without availability of a modern and accessible ultracentrifuge. Key aspects of the applicants' and user's research programs rely on ultracentrifugation to study diverse biological questions. Unfortunately, the only ultracentrifuge available at Carleton is a 20+ year-old Beckman unit. A critical issue is that this current ultracentrifuge is located in the Nesbitt Biology building, approximately 0.6 km away from the buildings occupied by the teams of the applicants and users, thus limiting its access and use. The moving of samples between the buildings drastically increases opportunity for sample degradation, or is outright not possible for many experimental approaches. Furthermore, this centrifuge does not allow for advanced centrifugation protocols that are required for modern experimental approaches used by the applicants and their teams. Execution of the proposed experiments with an ultracentrifuge located in the Health Sciences Building will dramatically increase the number of experimental conditions available to the researchers as well as experimental reproducibility. This in turn will maximize data collection, reduce cost, and greatly accelerate the research of all co-applicants. In addition, availability of the powerful simulation tools and software will allow optimization of protocols before running to ensure maximum efficiency. Importantly, this will save time and samples, which is particularly critical for patient-derived samples. In this application we request funds for the acquisition of a Beckman Optima XPN-100 ultracentrifugation platform for several research groups at Carleton. The requested system is an affordable and easy-to-use ultracentrifuge with the capacity to significantly advance fundamental molecular and cellular biology research at Carleton. The additional major advantage of this platform, in particular for the proposed multiuser operations, is its customizable user log-in and programming and networking capabilities allowing for remote booking, monitoring and control. The XPN-100 will thus fill an important technological gap at our University by providing state-of-the-art centrifugation platform for our current separation, while also greatly enhancing our ability to develop new procedures. This infrastructure will also allow us to foster new research partnerships within our institution and with external collaborators locally, nationally, and internationally. Consequently, this will greatly improve the funding competitiveness of our research programs at the national and international level, enhance our research capabilities and training of HQPs.