Services

PSAL is home to Canada’s only aging mouse colony and the world’s only germ-free mice. This colony is a unique and valuable tool for research on aging. The mice within the colony are cared for ethically and humanely. All experimental protocols receive ethics approval from the Animal Research Ethics Board and all facilities are maintained as per the Animals for Research Act and the Canadian Council for Animal care.

Studies of frailty can be performed using a validated frailty scale. These measures can be combined with biometric or other data.

Behavioural tests (e.g. open field, rota-rod), imaging for joint and muscle changes, and strength testing can be combined with banked samples of muscle or joints for investigations on age-related changes in muscle and bone structure. Studies on the impact of exercise can also be performed.

McMaster University is a leader in analysis of the microbiome through either Illumina sequencing of 16srRNA or metagenomics. Studies on how the microbiota influences the aging trajectory can be performed using the germ-free facility.

The McMaster Centre for Pre-Clinical and Translational Imaging (MCPTI) is a facility that specializes in functional and structural imaging of small animals and is available to all researchers. The facility consists of a Philips Mosaic PET and Gamma Medica X-SPECT (SPECT/CT), two of the most accurate clinical imaging modalities.

Preclinical imaging is non-invasive and longitudinal studies can be performed to characterize disease progression and drug efficacy in the same animal. It can also provide information on biological processes in living tissues that can be visualized and quantified. Fusion of functional images (eg. from PET, SPECT) with anatomical images (CT) helps to determine relationships between functional and structural changes.

Banked serum or other tissues can be processed and used in conjunction with protocols developed by Dr. Bowdish and the Department of Chemistry Mass Spectrometry facility (e.g. metabolites, sex hormones, lipids) to discover biomarkers of healthy or unhealthy aging. Custom analyses can be developed upon request. To learn more about studies using biomarker discover and metabolomics, see Dr. Bowdish’s publications on Age-associated metabolic dysregulation in bone marrow-derived macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide and Comprehensive and simultaneous coverage of lipid and polar metabolites for endogenous cellular metabolomics using HILIC-TOF-MS

Banked serum or other tissues can be processed and used in conjunction with protocols developed by Bowdish and the Department of Chemistry Mass Spectrometry facility (e.g. metabolites, sex hormones, lipids) to discover biomarkers of healthy or unhealthy aging.

Using facilities such as the EchoMRI, body composition can be measured. This can be coupled with biological specimens such as adipose tissue for other interrogative studies.