Research Platforms

Students in the Chemical Biology graduate program have full access to world-class instrumentation and professionally managed research facilities hosted both in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) and in other departments, centres, and institutes at McMaster.

The CCB department hosts key instruments, including:

Information Box Group

X-Ray diffractometers Learn More

  • Single-crystal, powder and thin-film

Mass Spectrometers Learn More

  • (GC-EI/CI TOF, LC-ESI/APCI Triple Quadrupole, MALDI-TOF, MALDI/CapLC-ESI)

Solution and solid-state NMR spectrometers Learn More

  • Cryo-850, cryo-700 x 2, 600, 500, and 200 MHz

Much of this infrastructure is located in central research facilities operated by the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department. In addition, our individual research groups have a broad range of specialized instrumentation, ranging from vacuum lines and glove boxes to an Atomic Layer Deposition reactor to equipment for GPC, HPLC, SEC-MALS, electrochemistry, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry.

Students in the Chemical Biology graduate program also have access to unparalleled research infrastructure on campus through several centres and institutes, including:

  • The Centre for Microbial Chemical Biology houses a state-of-the-art suite of core facilities for high- throughput screening, chemical synthesis, protein expression, purification, and characterization, including BLI and ITC.
  • The Macromolecular Crystallography Suite. Provides research support, hands-on training, and services in structural biology. Equipment available for trained users includes a single crystal x-ray system, small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and high throughput protein crystallization with a Gryphon crystallization robot.
  • The Biointerfaces Institute houses over $16M worth in advanced instrumentation in a series of shared suites. With its high throughput capacity for production, screening, and characterization of new materials and surfaces, it allows for the rapid study of specific surface interactions with biological species in multiple samples. Biomaterial applications include ophthalmic biomaterials and point-of-care diagnostics.
  • The Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research (BIMR). The world-renowned BIMR is home to a group of related laboratories devoted to materials research. These include a cryogenic characterization facility with SQUID magnetometer and physical property measurement system.
  • The Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, with its state-of-the-art SEMs, TEMs, and AFMs. With this suite of instrumentation, researchers can study the nanoscale morphology, composition, and properties of new materials for a broad range of applications in devices we use every day.
  • The Centre for Emerging Device Technology with various deposition reactors and spectroscopic ellipsometers.