Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

We need a microscope that will permit us to do time-lapse, fluorescent imaging of specific molecules within living cells, tissues and organisms. To fully accomplish our research aims we rely on using microscopy as a crucial experimental tool. Microscopy permits us to visualize specific molecules and their interactions with other molecules in their native environments, as well as to test their responses to genetic, chemical or physical perturbations. Thus, microscopy-based studies using living tissues truly are in vivo and provide a powerful complementary tool to more in vitro based molecular and biochemical techniques. Microscopy is emerging as an essential tool for researchers in the Department of Biology at Concordia, yet we are lacking the equipment we need for us to properly use this technique. In particular, the Department does not have an inverted microscope that is amenable for environmental control and that is suited for time-lapse imaging, and our only option is to use microscopes at other institutions, such as The University of Montreal and McGill.