Olympus Discovery Center brings advanced microscopy to brain research

Olympus continues to demonstrate its commitment to advancing bioscience research with the opening of the new Olympus Discovery Center at the University of Montreal’s Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur le cerveau et l'apprentissage (Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Brain and Learning, or CIRCA). The new facility helps ensure researchers have access to the cutting-edge microscopy tools they require to progress their research.

Image Credit: Olympus Life Science Solutions

Improving learning by studying processes at the neural level

Comprising over 60 researchers from seven faculties, CIRCA works to accelerate interdisciplinary brain science research and its applications through disciplines that operate in practice settings. CIRCA scientists use the Olympus Discovery Center’s advanced equipment to study the neural basis of brain development, functions, neuroplasticity, learning processes and the factors that disrupt and promote learning at different ages. They also develop novel intervention approaches to improve learning by creating links between brain science and data science.

Supporting bioscience research with advanced imaging systems

To study central nervous system function, development and regeneration at the cellular and subcellular level, the Olympus Discovery Center at CIRCA is fully equipped with innovative, high-performance light microscopes. The microscopy lab features some of Olympus most advanced systems for life science imaging, including a FLUOVIEW™ FV3000 upright confocal laser scanning microscope, a PhaseView^® Alpha3 light sheet microscope, as well as multiple classic inverted and electrophysiology microscopes.

By combining the imaging expertise of local Olympus personnel and CIRCA’s tissue clearing capability and research ingenuity, the Olympus Discovery Center at CIRCA positions itself as an education and demonstration focal point for the research community in Quebec and Eastern Canada.

Inaugurating an Olympus Discovery Center at the Université de Montréal aligns with our desire to encourage and promote innovation and discovery in the biosciences. We are proud that Olympus microscopy technologies will assist CIRCA’s scientists in making advances in neuroscience research that will contribute to shaping and improving the way people learn.”

Lee Wagstaff, Vice President of Sales, Marketing for Olympus Scientific Solutions Americas

“CIRCA is a unique research center that promotes interdisciplinary and intersectorial approaches to study brain functions and learning throughout our lives. The Olympus Discovery Center will be instrumental to explore the neural basis of learning and to develop new therapeutic strategies to restore brain functions. Olympus and CIRCA are providing the finest environment to train the future generation of health researchers and practitioners,” says Jean-François Bouchard, Associate Director of Research, Graduate Studies, and Faculty Affairs, School of Optometry, University of Montreal.

Olympus Discovery Centers provide researchers the ability to acquire and analyze vital imaging data using advanced microscopy tools. They also serve as a nexus for histology training, information and technique development, as well as a center for learning sample preparation, imaging and image processing. Olympus works closely with its academic partners to develop new products to meet the changing needs of researchers.