Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

This application is for a cryostat, required for efficient and precise sectioning of tissue used in four independent but interrelated research programs in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University. The requested equipment is essential for sectioning brains very thinly and reliably so that changes in levels of proteins, genes, and epigenetic markers can be localized and measured in model organisms such as rats, mice, and songbirds. Studying these changes allows insight into the causal relationships between environmental events and brain changes that support behaviours such as stress responding, song learning, social behaviour. The results produced from examining the sectioned brain tissue will provide insight into the process of neuroplasticity and the neural mechanisms underlying behaviour, including behavioural disorders of the nervous system (e.g., anxiety, depression, social anxiety). The cryostat is critical for continued progress and success of several research programs. The cryostat currently available in the department is not fully functional, and as a result tissue cannot be sectioned for protocols requiring sections less than twenty micrometers thick. This means that certain experiments cannot be completed without the requested equipment. All four applicants have established laboratories at Dalhousie and, each year, collectively support the research projects of approximately 12-15 highly-qualified personnel (HQP) including undergraduate students, graduate students, undergraduate research assistants, and post-doctoral fellows. These HQP often go on into clinical positions or onto further education such as graduate school, medical school, physio- and occupational therapy. Learning to section tissue is a very valuable skill that will undoubtedly benefit these HQP in future, while also contributing significantly to the on-going research programs of the applicants. The requested equipment is critical for our team to accomplish the goal of localizing and measuring changes in brain tissue to help elucidate the mechanisms underlying altered brain function and resulting behaviour.