Major techniques available at the Foldvari Research Lab include:
- Confocal laser scanning microscopy (Zeiss LSM 710) with incubator for real-time monitoring of cellular processes and microinjector system
- Confocor 3 (Zeiss) fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
- Transdermal/transmucosal diffusion cell system
- Molecular AND Microbiology suite (SDS-PAGE, acrylamide gel setup, Bioanalyzer, PCR, Nanodrop, Attune Flow cytometer)
- High throughput ELISA (Bio-Plex)
- Organic chemistry synthesis setup (Radley's 6-place reaction station)
- Tissue Culture Suite (Biolevel II)
- Pharmaceutical Formulation and Manufacturing Suite (nanohomogenizers, mixers, multifunction reactor, microfluidizer)
- Ultra high Pressure Liquid Chromatography with a fluorescence and PDA detector
- Animal studies using normal and diseased animal models to evaluate new treatments (equipped with isoflurane anaesthesia machine)
- Dynamic light scattering to describe particle size distribution
- Differential scanning calorimetry and isothermal titration microcalorimetry to evaluate excipient compatibility and protein stability/binding
Projects at the Foldvari Lab Group include various collaborations for physicochemical characterization using methods such as the following:
- Electron microscopy to visualize particle morphology (in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy at McMaster University)
- Circular Dichroism to understand conformational changes of DNA in dosage forms and formulations (in collaboration with Wilfrid Laurier University)
- SAXS and WAXS synchrotron X-ray analysis to characterize structural complexity of delivery systems and tissues of interest (in collaboration with Brookhaven National Lab)
- Microarray analysis (in collaboration with UHN Microarray Centre)
- Access to other instrumentation such as atomic force microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy and SEM (through UofW WatLab and Engineering Department)
