Equipment to Study Visual Cortical Development and Plasticity

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***This Research Tools and Instruments grant is requesting funds for equipment to modernize how we process and image the Western blots that are used in our studies of visual cortex development and plasticity. Western blotting is a technique used to quantify the amount of specific proteins in a piece of tissue. In neuroscience, Western blotting is one of the techniques used to study the proteins that regulate neuroplasticity. In my research program, we use Western blotting to study how neural proteins that regulate plasticity in the brain change during development or after various forms of abnormal visual experience.******The process of Western blotting includes separating the proteins in a gel, transferring the proteins from the gel to a membrane (also called the blot), probing the blot with antibodies to label specific protein bands, and scanning the blot to quantify the amount of protein in the bands. The requested equipment is needed to perform those steps. The automated Western blot processor (Freedom Rocker Blotbot 240) is needed to perform all of the antibody incubations and wash steps that label the protein bands on a blot. Then the Western blot scanner (Azure Saffire Biomolecular Imager) is needed to image the blot by visualizing the labelled bands and quantifying the amount of protein in each band. Together they increase throughput and modernize the processing of Western blots.******This new equipment will enable our studies about plasticity in the visual cortex of animal models and plasticity in the human cortex. The equipment will more than double the number of proteins we can study by 1) introducing high-throughput methods and 2) increasing the accuracy and reliability of the protein quantification. Furthermore, these pieces of equipment are essential for training students so that they acquire experience and expertise with modern state-of-the-art tools for studying brain development and plasticity.******Our studies are unique in Canada because my laboratory is the only site with a library of postmortem human visual cortex samples. Moreover, our lifespan library of human visual cortex tissue covers a range of ages from birth to aging, making it a rare and valuable resource not found elsewhere in the world.******The research supported by the requested equipment will provide new information about how the brain develops and changes with experience. Vision is the dominant sensory system in humans with more than 30 cortical areas that process visual information for a wide range of functions, from visual acuity to face perception to reading. The results have a direct impact on our understanding of how vision is processed in the brain. Furthermore, our findings may impact health-related studies about the neural and perceptual changes that occur during abnormal development and neurodegeneration. The findings can benefit Canadian vision science researchers working to develop new treatments for vision diseases.*****