Peptide Synthesizer & Cell Culture

我们聚集在一起，在对加拿大和知识经济至关重要的领域推进知识。我们对材料的设计特别感兴趣，这些材料将使我们能够在仿生环境中培养生物细胞-这是一种在生化成分和机械性能方面模仿天然组织的环境。通过设计含有蛋白质片段（即多肽）的水膨胀材料（称为水凝胶），我们可以模拟细胞在人体内生长的天然环境。这是一个强大的工具，可以用来指导细胞的命运，并找到治疗各种疾病的方法。通过从传统的平面二维细胞生长方法发展到我们提出的三维策略，我们开辟了一种全新的药物发现方式。此外，利用创新的多肽修饰材料，我们可以控制蛋白质的释放，从而刺激驻留的干细胞促进组织修复——使我们更接近再生的圣杯。一种允许我们设计包含在水凝胶中的肽的仪器是我们成功的关键，也是生物制造最终所需的规模扩大的关键。肽合成器，顾名思义，允许我们设计感兴趣的肽。多肽合成器对我们的提案至关重要，并补充了一系列核心仪器，可以进行3D细胞成像（即共聚焦显微镜的激光），细胞培养，传代以及细胞和多肽储存（即培养箱，层流罩，离心机，液氮容器和-80°C冷冻柜）。Shoichet、McGuigan、Sefton、Gu和van der Kooy的团队在这个充满活力的提议中走到了一起。重要的是，我们实验室的80多名高素质人员（HQP）将有机会使用最先进的设备研究我们领域的重大问题。公平，多样性和包容性是所有pi和HQP的关键，他们使用个人发展计划来有意地发展自己的职业生涯。凭借先进的设备，我们的HQP将有能力应对21世纪学术界和工业界的挑战。生物制造和创新经济是加拿大未来的关键。通过在指导细胞命运的生物医学工程领域推进知识，我们将获得新的材料，使我们能够发明未来的治疗方法。

We have come together to advance knowledge in areas of critical importance to Canada and knowledge-based economy. We are specifically interested in the design of materials that will allow us to grow biological cells in a biomimetic environment - that is an environment which mimics native tissue in terms of biochemical composition and mechanical properties. By designing water-swollen materials (called hydrogels) with protein fragments (i.e. peptides), we can mimic the native environment in which cells grow in people. This is a powerful tool with which to guide cell fate and find therapeutics for the treatment of a variety of diseases. By advancing from the conventional flat, 2-dimensional method of growing cells to our proposed 3-dimensional strategy, we open up an entirely new way of discovering drugs. Moreover, with innovative, peptide-modified materials, we can control the release of proteins, thereby stimulating resident stem cells to promote tissue repair - getting us closer to the holy grail of regeneration. An instrument that allows us to design peptides for inclusion in our hydrogels is key to our success and the scale-up required ultimately in biomanufacturing. The peptide synthesizer, as the name implies, allows us to design peptides of interest. The peptide synthesizer is critical to our proposal and is supplemented with a series of core instruments that enable cell imaging in 3D (i.e. a laser for our confocal microscope), cell culture, passaging and cell and peptide storage (i.e., incubator, laminar flow hood, centrifuge, liquid nitrogen container and -80 °C freezer). The groups of Shoichet, McGuigan, Sefton, Gu and van der Kooy have come together in this dynamic proposal. Importantly, the 80+ high-quality personnel (HQP) in our laboratories will have the opportunity to work on big questions in our fields using state-of-the-art equipment. Equity, diversity and inclusion are key to all of the PIs and all HQP, who use individual development plans to be intentional with their careers. With access to leading-edge equipment, our HQP will be well-equipped to tackle 21st century challenges in both academia and industry. Biomanufacturing and the innovation economy are key to Canada's future. By advancing knowledge in the proposed biomedical engineering fields of guiding cell fate, we will new materials that will enable us to invent future therapeutics.