Facilities

Kotra group enjoys access to state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities for synthetic medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and animal studies at University Health Network (Toronto, Canada), at the University of Toronto (Canada), as well as at University Health Network Shanghai (China) facilities.

Kotra laboratories are located in the Toronto Medical Discovery Tower/Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower at the MaRS Center, spread out on two floors. To arrange for a visit to the laboratory, please contact Dr. Kotra: lkotra@uhnresearch.ca

Medicinal Chemistry Laboratory

Our full equipped laboratory for synthetic medicinal chemistry provides all the necessary instrumentation for the research and development of small-molecule compounds for therapeutic investigations. Our laboratory recently was inspected and licensed (2016) by Health Canada for controlled drugs substances research.

Our analytical laboratory serves to provide efficient support to the medicinal chemistry laboratory. Quick characterizations and purity analysis allows for increased synthetic productivity

• WatersTM 600 LC-MS system with tandem PDA
• Access to two Bruker high field NMR spectrometers, 400 MHz and 600 MHz
• ATR diamond probe IR spectrophotometer
• Mettler-Toledo IR probe for real-time in situ chemical reaction monitoring

Drug Preformulations

Kotra laboratory is also equipped with suitable equipment and associated expertise to conduct pre-formulation research including physicochemical characterizations, stability studies, dosage form design/preparation and associated activites to support drug discovery efforts.

Protein Isolation/Purification and Biological Studies

Our biological laboratory is equipped to test our small molecules, via in vitro studies, for biological efficacy. This provides support for our drug discovery efforts

• Cell culturing facilities, Protein purification units, Protein PCR units
• Micocal/GE Healthcare iTC200 calorimeter
• SpectraMax plate reader