News & Events
2021
Event - Peptide Dynamics website rewritten
Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - This website, The Peptide Dynamics website, was rewritten in allow for more Python 3 access to the Blog and News to allow raw data to be uploaded from the experiment into the website and this website then process and create interactive plots of the data using Plotly.
2020
Equipment Contribution - Rigol MSO8204
Sunday, December 06, 2020 - My old Tektronix 1GHz digital oscilloscope's trigger had broken and it would've cost a lot to fix. Instead I had the budget, the manufacturer had a deep discount saving over $5,000, and purchased a Rigol MSO8204 digital oscilloscope. Its a 4-channel 2 GHz scope with a lot more power, speed, and connectivity. Its featured under our Blog.
2012
Event - The Peptide Dynamics Blog
Saturday, January 14, 2012 - With the recent upgrade to this website, I have been able to add a database-driven interactive blog to this site. This blog will bring collaboration on dielectric instrumentation and protein dynamics to a whole new level. I am proud to introduce The Peptide Dynamics Blog.
2011
Event - Web Site Updated
Friday, December 23, 2011 - It is my deepest pleasure to introduce the presentation of this updated and upgraded website. Although IQa started in 2003, its website has remained essentially unaffected. However, I have been excited by the development of the web2py framework which gracefully marries Apache with Python and PostgreSQL. I should be able to present and deliver more dynamic content with greater user interaction.
Equipment Contribution - Tektronix
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - Tektronix has contributed their AFG3252 240 MHz 2-Channel Arbitrary Function Generator to the PDP. It will be used to upgrade the Phase IV Dielectric Spectrometer (P4DS), a broad frequency range, high-tolerance detector that will be used as a spectrometer, in the frequency domain, or a DSP lock-in amplifier, in the time domain, while coupled to NI LabView. more...
Event - Research Hiatus Terminated
Friday, January 14, 2011 - After a long hiatus from research, our principle investigator, Stephen Lukacs, returns to the Peptide Dynamics Project with new ideas and approaches to creating better dielectric spectrometers to investigate the intramolecular component dipole moments of peptides and proteins. Lets see if we can't find that elusive signal.
2008
Event - NSF MRI Grant Proposal Submitted
Thursday, January 24, 2008 - We submitted our fourth National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal on January 24, 2008. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) proposal was entitled, "MRI: Development of Advanced Dielectric Spectrometers and Chemical Techniques for the Detection and Characterization of Structural Motifs in Proteins." more...
2007
Event - Annual Progress Report
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - The second Annual Progress Report was released to update collaborators and contributors of the scientific and technical achievements of the PDP for 2006. In short, it was a great year. Technical achievements led to the acceptance of our work in the Review of Scientific Instruments. 2007 and 2008 should be great years for the PDP. more...
Research Proposal - NSF MRI Grant Proposal Submitted
Thursday, January 25, 2007 - We submitted our third National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal on January 25, 2007. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) proposal was entitled, "MRI: Development of Advanced Dielectric Spectrometers and Chemical Techniques for the Detection, Characterization, and Cataloging of Peptide and Protein Structural Motifs." more...
Scientific Publication - Noise-Rejection Techniques for Impedance and Dielectric Spectrometers Using Ubiquitous Test and Measurement Equipment
Wednesday, January 03, 2007 -
This work was submitted on December 18th and accepted by the prestigious journal Review of Scientific Instruments, a publication of the American Institute of Physics.
Abstract - This work encompassed the development for a frequency-domain impedance and dielectric spectrometer using ubiquitous test and measurement equipment, i.e., signal generators and digital oscilloscopes. Various methods of amplification, noise-rejection, and computations were employed to achieve the desired goals. The frequency range of 100 mHz to 1 MHz was tested using air capacitors of 3.7 and 14.5 pF and an applied voltage range of 10 to 300 mV. The multi-channel instrument produced a stable and reproducible dual-phase (real and imaginary or magnitude and phase) current sensitivity of 250 fA with an average phase stability of less than 0.5 degrees (tan(delta) < 10-2), and a single-phase (magnitude only) current sensitivity of 60 fA. Download Overview... Login/Register for Full-Text Article...
2006
Software Development - LabView Drivers for the Fluke 396 Arbitrary Function Generator
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 - GPIB and serial (COM) drivers, using the VISA 3.2 standard, for National Instruments LabView v7 and v8 were created for the Fluke 396 Arbitrary Function Generator. These drivers, and an example application, will fill a necessary void when interfacing this generator to a PC. These drivers are freely downloadable from right here. Serial (COM) Driver Download... GPIB Driver Download...
Software Development - LabView Drivers for the Stanford Research SR830 & SR850 DSP Lock-In Amplifiers
Sunday, September 24, 2006 - GPIB drivers, using the VISA 3.2 standard, for National Instruments LabView v7 and v8 were created for the Stanford Research DSP Lock-In Amplifiers, Models SR830 & SR850. These drivers include the amplifier's unique SNAP and FAST implementations of simultaneously querying the real (in-phase) and imaginary (quadrature) components of the detector. These drivers, and an example application, will fill a necessary void when interfacing these amplifiers to a PC. Download Driver...
Equipment Contribution - Infinite Quantum
Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - Infinite Quantum, the developers of Fleet Dynamics, has donated a Stanford Research SR830 Lock-In Amplifier to the PDP. This amplifier will be converted into an impedance/dielectric spectrometer with a frequency range of 1 mHz to 100 kHz and a current sensitivity down to 2 fA. This equipment will prove vital to understanding the dielectric responses of peptides and proteins.
Software Development - LabView Drivers for the Fluke PM6306 RCL Meter
Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - GPIB drivers, using the VISA 3.2 standard, for National Instruments LabView v7 and v8 were created for the Fluke PM6306 RCL Meter. These drivers, and an example application, will fill a necessary void when interfacing this RCL meter to a PC. These drivers are freely downloadable from ni.com or right here. Download Driver...
Equipment Contribution - Fluke
Thursday, June 22, 2006 - Fluke has contributed an PM6306 RCL Meter and a 396 Arbitrary Waveform Generator to the PDP. The RCL meter will standardize new sample cells, and measure the conductivity of new chemical samples to standardize sample preparation. The latter is critical because an increased conductivity will obscure the dielectric signals of the peptides and proteins. more...
Research Proposal - Dielectric Spectrometers II & III (DS2 & DS3) Proposal
Saturday, June 17, 2006 - After the DS2 Proposal was create, below, it was realized that the DS3 can be amalgamated with the DS2 using a common temperature circulator, computer, and software. By combining the common components of the DS2 with the DS3, over $15,000 can be saved while increasing the overall capability and point-of-view of the observations. The DS3 will include capabilites to study fast transient behavior in peptides and proteins while the DS2 provides highly sensitive change-of-state studies. more...
Research Proposal - Dielectric Spectrometer II (DS2) Proposal
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - The second dielectric spectrometer (DS2) has been proposed for the PDP. The essential approach is to create a sensitive and precise instrument to study the temperature-dependent dielectric signals from peptides and proteins at a fraction of the cost than commercial spectrometers. more...
Research Proposal - Amplified Detector & Measurement Instrumentation Specification
Sunday, May 07, 2006 - After years of working with the currently available test and measurement equipment and instrumentation to study the dielectric nature of peptides and proteins, it is realized that there is a technological deficiency in this class of equipment. A specification has been created challenging manufacturers to develope better, entitled "Development of Broad-Band Amplified Detectors and Self-Contained Measurement Instrumentation for the Electronics and Manufacturing Industries and Scientific Research." more...
Event - The PDP goes public on iquanta.org
Sunday, March 12, 2006 - infinite quanta brought the Peptide Dynamics Project (PDP) to the public on the internet at iquanta.org. We hope that the website will promote the project, its support, as well as educate the general public of its goals, instrumentation, and biophysics, in general. more...
Event - NSF MRI Grant Proposal Submitted
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - We submitted our second National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal on January 25, 2006. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) proposal was entitled, "Development of Ultra-Sensitive Dielectric Spectrometers and Chemical Techniques for the Detection, Characterization, and Cataloging of Peptide and Protein Structural Motifs." more...
2005
Event - Annual Progress Report
Monday, November 28, 2005 - The first Annual Progress Report was released to update collaborators and contributors of the scientific and technical achievements of the PDP for 2005. In short, it was a great year. Many scientific observations were made and many technical lessons were learned. 2006 and 2007 should be great years for the PDP. more...
Equipment Contribution - Tektronix
Friday, November 25, 2005 - Tektronix has contributed their TDS5104 1-GHz 4-Channel Touch-Screen Digital Oscilloscope to the PDP. It will be used to create the Phase IV Dielectric Spectrometer (P4DS), a broad frequency range, high-tolerance detector that will be used as a spectrometer, in the frequency domain, or a DSP lock-in amplifier, in the time domain, while coupled to NI LabView. more...
Equipment Contribution - Millipore
Friday, November 04, 2005 - Millipore has contributed the Elix 5 Reverse Osmosis and the Milli-Q Academic Ultra-Pure Water Purification Systems. The Elix creates the best Type II water available and the Milli-Q creates the best Type I HPLC-Grade water available. These two grades of water will be used to study and reduce electrode polarization interference in the sample cells of the PDP's dielectric spectrometers. more...
Equipment Contribution - 3M
Friday, June 10, 2005 - 3M has contributed two M170 17" LCD Touch-Screen Monitors to the PDP. These will be used, in part, to create the Phase V Dielectric Spectrometer (P5DS). more...
Research Proposal - NSF MRI Grant Proposal Submitted
Sunday, January 23, 2005 - We submitted our first National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal on January 23, 2006. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) proposal was entitled, "Development of Ultra-Sensitive and Ultra-Low Frequency Dielectric Spectrometers for the Detection, Characterization, and Cataloging of Peptide and Protein Dipolar Sub-Domains and Structural Motifs." more...
2004
Equipment Contribution - Mettler-Toledo
Saturday, November 13, 2004 - Mettler-Toledo has contributed an AT261 Analytical Balance and a MP220 pH Meter to the PDP. These instruments will be used to for sample preparation and calibration more...
News Article - Florida Times Union
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 - This article in the Nassau Neighbors of the Florida Times Union is the first public exposure of the project. more...
Event - The IRS grants 501(c)(3) Tax Exemption to infinite quanta
Wednesday, July 14, 2004 - It required six weeks to create the application and over six months after its submission; infinite quanta has received its official 501(c)(3) tax exempt status from the I.R.S. This status allows infinite quanta to perform pure scientific research and apply and compete for federal and national grants along with universities and other national laboratories. It also allows corporations, private foundation, funds, trusts, and individuals to contribute equipment and financial support while receiving tax deductions. more...
Equipment Contribution - National Instruments
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - National Instruments has contributed their PCI-based GPIB-interface boards, cables, and LabView Full v7.1 to the PDP. This interface hardware and high-end instrumentation software will be used in conjunction with the Ametek 7265 DSP Lock-In Amplifier to create the Phase I Dielectric Spectrometer (P1DS). more...
Equipment Contribution - Ametek, Signal Recovery
Saturday, May 15, 2004 - Ametek Corporation, and their subsidiary Signal Recovery, has contributed their 7265 DSP Lock-In Amplifer to the PDP. This equipment is the center of the Phase I Dielectric Spectrometer (P1DS) because of its sine-wave generator and high CMRR DSP-based amplifier. This amplifier will be coupled to with a PC using GPIB and National Instruments LabView Full v7.1.
2003
Event - infinite quanta officially adopts its Corporate ByLaws
Saturday, December 20, 2003 - The corporate bylaws formally state the intention and purpose of the corporation. Since infinite quanta is a nonprofit entity, it must have the high goal of promoting the well-being of society. Specifically, this will be performed with pure scientific research and education. more...
Event - infinite quanta becomes a nonprofit corporation
Tuesday, November 25, 2003 - The idea of performing pure scientific research was crystallized with the first step of incorporating as a nonprofit in the State of Florida. Its purpose was/is, "To perform pure scientific research and develope innovative and applied scientific instrumentation for the general purpose of aquiring constructive scientific knowledge and the distribution of such pure knowledge and applied innovation through various forms of information transmission, i.e. scientific journals, video, internet, etc." more...