Reference number : GC-2017-Q4-00025, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Ahmadi, Ali (University of Prince Edward Island), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : Prince Edward Island|Île-du-Prince-Édouard, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Engage Grants for universities, program name french : Subventions d'engagement partenarial pour les universités, program purpose english : In the proposed project, to improve the current in situ bacteria isolation systems used by Nautilus, a novel_x000D_
device will be fabricated and tested to enable single-step growth and isolation of new bacteria that have, thus_x000D_
far, resisted attempts to domesticate. Nautilus Biosciences Canada Inc. is a marine biotechnology company_x000D_
focused on the discovery and development of marine-derived natural products with applications in human and_x000D_
animal health and wellness. Nautilus isolates and cultures bacteria from diverse geographic locations ranging_x000D_
from the tropics to Canada's Arctic. One of the main challenges to this type of compound discovery is the_x000D_
limited ability of culturing cells, usually bacteria, in vitro. In fact, "The Great Plate Count Anomaly" suggests_x000D_
that only about 1% of bacteria are cultivable in laboratories. The remaining 99% are considered 'uncultivable',_x000D_
or have slow growth, due to the lack of chemical and physical factors present in the bacteria's natural_x000D_
environments. Therefore, there is an increasing need for development of high throughput in situ technologies_x000D_
for cultivation of uncultivable species. The proposed microencapsulation chambers would address this need,_x000D_
and allow for greater culturing efficiency and a broader screening capability for therapeutics. To address the_x000D_
limitations of the current iChip designs, we propose a new design of a growth chamber and a_x000D_
microfluidic-based method of encapsulating bacteria in agarose micro-beads. Thus, the research proposed_x000D_
could lead to the isolation of new bacteria which produce new, bioactive natural products., program purpose french : In the proposed project, to improve the current in situ bacteria isolation systems used by Nautilus, a novel_x000D_
device will be fabricated and tested to enable single-step growth and isolation of new bacteria that have, thus_x000D_
far, resisted attempts to domesticate. Nautilus Biosciences Canada Inc. is a marine biotechnology company_x000D_
focused on the discovery and development of marine-derived natural products with applications in human and_x000D_
animal health and wellness. Nautilus isolates and cultures bacteria from diverse geographic locations ranging_x000D_
from the tropics to Canada's Arctic. One of the main challenges to this type of compound discovery is the_x000D_
limited ability of culturing cells, usually bacteria, in vitro. In fact, "The Great Plate Count Anomaly" suggests_x000D_
that only about 1% of bacteria are cultivable in laboratories. The remaining 99% are considered 'uncultivable',_x000D_
or have slow growth, due to the lack of chemical and physical factors present in the bacteria's natural_x000D_
environments. Therefore, there is an increasing need for development of high throughput in situ technologies_x000D_
for cultivation of uncultivable species. The proposed microencapsulation chambers would address this need,_x000D_
and allow for greater culturing efficiency and a broader screening capability for therapeutics. To address the_x000D_
limitations of the current iChip designs, we propose a new design of a growth chamber and a_x000D_
microfluidic-based method of encapsulating bacteria in agarose micro-beads. Thus, the research proposed_x000D_
could lead to the isolation of new bacteria which produce new, bioactive natural products., agreement title english : Miniaturized Growth Chambers for the Isolation of "Unculturable" Bacteria, agreement title french : Miniaturized Growth Chambers for the Isolation of "Unculturable" Bacteria, agreement number : EGP, agreement value : 25000.0, agreement start date : 2018-03-07, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)., additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2018-2019)., owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada