Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Electron microscopy (EM) is widely used in biological research to image the detailed structure of tissues, cells, organelles and macromolecular complexes and it has led to numerous high impact discovery. Our institute has a strong and intimate past history with electron microscopy with a platform that was present at the origin of the “Institut de microbiologie et d'hygiène de Montréal” the first French-speaking medical center (which became in 1974, the Institut Armand-Frappier). Despite the glorious history of EM in our institute, the station for thin section preparation is outdated. This station comprises an ultramicrotome used to cut the samples embedded in resin with a glass-knife (trimming) and a diamond-knife (100nm thin section). This ultramicrotome that has been repaired in-house several times has now recently become unprecise (and therefore unusable). For this reason, we are requesting funding to urgently replace the thin section preparation station which will comprise an ultramicrotome, a diamond-knife, a knife-maker and a tissues processor that will allow semi-automatic preparation of sample in resin. ***These instruments will allow the study of host-pathogen interplay at the cellular level. Using thin section, we will be able to visualize 1) how the envelope of pathogens is built, 2) how the pathogens is interacting with host cells (macrophages, neutrophils or epithelial cells) 3) how this interaction can reshape the shape of the host cells and organelles. This proposal will not only allow the team to perform such research but, as this station will be embedded in an institutional platform, it will also allow all researchers from our institute to have access to this straightforward technique as done in the last few years with more than 30 papers published in high impact journals.