By Alexa Pichet Binette and Sivaniya Subramaniapillai / 2020-05-13
Despite a raging snowstorm characteristic of Montreal winters on February 7th, attendance at this year’s annual QBIN Scientific Day was higher than ever, with almost all of the 220 registered participants from across the province braving the weather to attend the event. Some attendees even made their way over from Toronto and Marseilles, and although weather-related flight cancellations prevented one of our keynote speakers from attending, the bad weather did not stop the day from being a big success!
This year, the Scientific Day was organized according to three themes:
The morning session on bio-imaging in animal models yielded interesting discussion on preclinical research. From new imaging tracer development to studies on cancer and Parkinson’s disease, all speakers highlighted how they use different imaging modalities to track disease progression or monitor potential treatment. The panel discussions following the talks were an informative way to discuss common themes across topics, for example how animal work can translate to human studies, and the benefits and drawbacks of using imaging techniques that only capture macroscopic effects.
Another strength of Québec’s bio-imaging community is the development of innovative methodological advances. The talks on this theme gave an overview of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, a method to measure the concentrations of different metabolites in the body, advances in the field of nanoscopy, and the development of new techniques for medical imaging based on ultrasound.