The Mouse Imaging Centre

Housed within The Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP) building in the Discovery District of downtown Toronto, the Mouse Imaging Centre (MICe) is a research laboratory that utilizes a number of different imaging techniques as well as behavioural tests and experimental procedures to study brain development and brain disease in mouse models. As the Mouse Imaging Centre is associated with a number of research institutes, such as the Hospital for Sick Children, the insight of natural brain development and disease we gain from our studies of mouse models is regularly integrated with clinical human research performed by other facilities to further our understanding of these medical issues.

This work term I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Isabel

Regular tasks included handling live mice and measuring and recording liquid and food consumption daily. Less frequently I was required to inject individual mice, with either a MRI-enhancing agent or with an agent meant to simulate a gastrointestinal malaise in response to sugar ingestion. I also had the exciting opportunity to help with the in vivo brain MRI procedure for a number of mice over multiple weeks. I was involved in the preparation of both the individual mice and the machinery for the scanning. Additionally, I was tasked with monitoring certain scans to ensure that breathing remained at a stable level during the time that the mice were anesthetized within the MRI machine. As described, the majority of my tasks were concerned with collecting the data required for future analysis and interpretation. However, I was also responsible for updating files in a timely manner with the data gathered in the laboratory and animal facility settings as well as performing some minor data manipulation through the creation of

Although this is something I will continue to improve on in the next four months, I do believe I have developed this skill to a suitable degree up to this point and I now possess an understanding and aptitude for handling small research animals that I could apply in the future if necessary. A second goal I hoped to achieve during this work term was to learn how to operate the MRI equipment to conduct imaging processing efficiently. At this point, after performing a number of in vivo scans with the help of my supervisor and co-workers, I am confident in my skill at preparing the mice for the scan as well as at setting up the machinery required for the process. Although the skills that I have discussed here are quite specific to this particular laboratory setting, I feel that these experiences have greatly helped me to develop my more transferable skills, as performing experiments on animals and conducting MRI procedures are both processes that require considerable organization, attention to detail, and time management abilities to gather data in the most efficient manner