Critical need for cryostat to support research in behavioural neuroscience

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This application is for a cryostat, required for efficient and precise sectioning of tissue used in four independent but interrelated research programs in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University. The requested equipment is essential for sectioning brains very thinly and reliably so that changes in levels of proteins, genes, and epigenetic markers can be localized and measured in model organisms such as rats, mice, and songbirds. Studying these changes allows insight into the causal relationships between environmental events and brain changes that support behaviours such as stress responding, song learning, social behaviour. The results produced from examining the sectioned brain tissue will provide insight into the process of neuroplasticity and the neural mechanisms underlying behaviour, including behavioural disorders of the nervous system (e.g., anxiety, depression, social anxiety).