10/15/2025
Chronic and infectious diseases are responsible for almost 57 million deaths - more than half the deaths in the world – every year. With some fancy new equipment, available due to $300,000 in funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, microbiologists Caroline Cameron and Mariya Goncheva, alongside biomedical engineer Stephanie Willerth, are looking to adance research into diseases and conditions that represent a public health priority to Canada and the rest of the world.
The researchers will be using the funding to acquire a live cell imager with confocal capability.
The instrument provides a choice of simultaneous fluorescence or confocal imaging and real-time assessment of the physical properties and viability of cell populations. It allows in-depth investigations of cell functions, imaging of tissue at different points in a plane, and a detailed view of host-pathogen interactions. As well, the scientists can image bioprinted tissues such as healthy and diseased neural models.
The equipment is essential to advance the quest to develop preventative care for microbiological diseases, understand host-bacterial/viral cell interactions, and to reconstruct tissue structures. In turn, this will help prevent and treat medically significant diseases and will improve the health of Canadians and individuals around the world.
