What the facility does
Molecular and cellular basis of brain function.
Areas of expertise
The Centre for Biological Timing and Cognition collaborates with researchers from academia, hospitals, and industry to advance research in sleep (disorders), hypoxia, circadian rhythms of disease, and neurogenesis. Its broad array of instrumentation, from long-term animal monitoring and dialysis (to collect samples from moving live animals), to molecular characterization, enables a researcher to observe a phenomenon in a controlled environment and then probe the molecular landscape using analytical techniques. With training, most instrumentation is available for independent use. This provides students with a space that is akin to their laboratory. The experienced staff is always available to provide guidance, experimental design, and mentoring.
Research services
Confocal microscopy, tissue sectioning, bio-analysis - HPLC, CE, mass spectrometry, animal behaviour testing, method development, experiment design, technical assistance
Sectors of application
- Healthcare and social services
- Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
Specialized labs and equipment
| Specialized lab | Equipment | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Imaging & Electrophysiology | Spinning disc confocal system with FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) and FRAP (fluorescence resonance after photobleaching) | High-resolution, 3D images of thick specimens – great for live cell applications of molecular diffusion, and active movement of cell component |
| Deconvolution and live cell imaging system on upright microscope dual camera | ||
| Deconvolution and live cell imaging system on inverted microscope single camera | ||
| Two stereo microscopes with fibre optic illumination | ||
| Two patch clamp systems for brain slice on automated microscopes – dual cameras | Electrophysiology, micromanipulation, for example, to measure the electric current passing through single membrane channels in cells | |
| Calcium imaging system for cell physiology on automated microscope – dual camera | Used to illustrate the calcium status of a cell, tissue or medium | |
| Histology – Leica equipment | Motorized cryostat (CM 3050S) | Cutting cryosections, rapid conversion of fresh tissue into microscope-ready sections; can prepare samples for laser capture microdissection |
| Floor standing tissue processor (300S) | Routine and research histopathology of up to 300 cassettes while minimizing carry-over | |
| Motorized microtome (RM 2255) | Sectioning of paraffin- and resin-embedded specimens | |
| Modular tissue embedding station (EG1150) | Can arrange embedding work flow in either direction | |
| Vibrating blade microtome (VT1200S) | Fully automated fresh and fixed tissue sectioning | |
| Programmable slide stainer and cover slipper | ||
| Microdialysis – bioanalytical systems | Eight stand-alone portable stations | Low-volume sampling for live animals |
| Surgical suites | Multiple digital stereotaxic and anesthesia stations – portable and stationary | |
| Animal behavioural testing – Coulbourn Instruments | Acoustic startle – eight stations | |
| Place preference – two stations | ||
| Elevated plus maze | ||
| Eight arm radial maze | ||
| Open field activity system – four stations | ||
| Shuttle avoidance system with shock – eight stations | ||
| Self-administration – four stations | ||
| Six Ccamber ISS system – six stations | ||
| Self-stimulation – four stations | ||
| Long-term animal monitoring and recording systems – respironics Minimitter and Coulbourn | Animal monitoring for 96 subjects | |
| Core body temperature | ||
| Heart rate | ||
| Gross motor activity | ||
| Running wheel turns | ||
| Drinking/licking frequency | ||
| Feeding behavior | ||
| 480 channels for activity monitoring | ||
| 40 stainless steel isolation units | Light cycle control | |
| Pathogen-free animal colony | 864 mouse cages | |
| 324 rat cages | ||
| STERIS cage and rack washer | ||
| Medium STERIS sterilizer | ||
| Six animal change stations | ||
| Electrochemistry – GMA and Quanteon | Two complete stations | Chronoamperometry and amperometry |
| Human testing labs | Behavioural testing, including E-Prime (v1.2, v2.0Pro) | |
| High-density (128 channels) EEG/ERP – two on-site and one mobile | ||
| SR Research Remote Eyelink II eye-tracking – two on site | ||
| Virage driving simulator | ||
| Online survey (Opinio) | ||
| Mobile human testing vehicle | Behavioural testing | |
| EEG/ERP | ||
| SR Research eye-tracking | ||
| Molecular characterization | Mass spectrometer- Thermo Orbitrap Discovery | Proteomics, metabolomics, method development |
| Accela LC | Liquid chromatography | |
| Gene expression analysis – Beckman Coulter GeXP | Gene expression, DNA sequencing, SNP, STR, oligonucleotide purity, AFLPs | |
| 2D fractionation – Beckman Coulter PF 2D | Mostly for complex mixtures of biomolecules, e.g. proteins, glycosylated compounds, lipids, etc. | |
| Capillary electrophoresis – Beckman Coulter PA800 with UV and LIF detection | Separation of biomolecules using electrophoresis; can be an off-line fraction collector for mass spectrometry | |
| Beckman HPLC with UV and EC detection | Chromatographic separation and quantitation using UV or electrochemical detection | |
| Beckman 880 microplate reader | Reader for proteins assays | |
| UV spectrophotometer - Beckman | Built-in programs for protein assay, kinetics, micro cuvette available | |
| Centrifugation including ultra- | ||
| electroporator/multiporator | ||
| Thermal cyclers | Amplify segments of DNA via polymerase chain reaction | |
| Informatics software – Proteome Discoverer, MaxQuant |