Olympus Corp. has opened an Olympus Discovery Center at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute of McGill University in Montreal, with the goal of making advanced microscopy equipment accessible to researchers. The partnership aims to advance microscopy and imaging-based research in Montreal while supporting researchers in their work. The equipment at the center will enable researchers to carry out a wide variety of life science imaging experiments and give students an opportunity to learn advanced microscopy techniques. Some of the first studies that will be pursued using the new equipment include confocal imaging of human brain cells impacted by early-life adversity; characterization of microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, in the developing brain; and multiphoton microscopy to determine how neurons contribute to cognition and memory and are affected during memory loss. “The cutting-edge instruments of this Olympus Discovery Center will allow our researchers to analyze the cellular and molecular organization of brain circuits with unprecedented resolution,” said Naguib Mechawar, Douglas researcher and associate professor of psychiatry at McGill University. “We anticipate that this new and powerful neuroimaging capacity will lead to a better understanding of the biological factors associated with mental illness.” Olympus Discovery Centers provide researchers the ability to acquire and analyze vital imaging data using advanced microscopy tools. They also serve as a nexus for histology training, information and technique development, as well as a center for learning sample preparation, imaging and image processing.
