Student and postdoctoral space

If the stars align

Why do people suffer from disease, and how can we find solutions? When faced with questions we cannot answer, we often look to the sky for guidance. In our lab, however, we look to a different kind of star: astrocytes.

Named for their star-like shape, astrocytes are brain cells essential for maintaining brain health. Thanks to generous donations of brain tissue, we study how astrocytes and other brain cell’s function—and what goes wrong in disease. By uncovering these mechanisms, we hope to discover new solutions for patients, so that one day, they may no longer have to look to the sky for answers.

(Labo Nathalie Arbour, Neuroscience theme, 2026)  

Custom-Made Aorta

3D printing was used to create a replica of a patient’s anatomy from medical images. In the foreground, the ascending aorta and the two coronary arteries branching from it can be seen. Higher up are the aortic arch and the arteries supplying blood to the head and arms. This model makes it possible to test different endovascular approaches in collaboration with the hospital’s Aortic Centre. The material used for this model requires UV curing after printing. Taken during this stage, the photograph captures the distinctive blue light of the process.

(Labo Stéphane Bedwani, Imaging and engineering theme, 2026)

Macro or Micro

Through a telescope, one might have thought they were looking at Earth. With its vast expanses of water, it harbours life. An astronomer would have been surprised to see them so diminished.

Under the microscope, I observe the tissue of a woman. She gives life, and through this organ, she also nourishes it. There are these cells spreading throughout her body; there is this disease taking up space on this Earth. Woe to that which fatally envelops life.

New invading continents, or tumours? Her view is not my view, and even if cancer rhymes with Earth, and whether macro or micro, it likes to occupy space. From our perspective, we would rather see it without a universe!

(Immunofluorescence image of cancerous tissue from a patient with breast cancer, obtained using Xenium technology)

(Labo Marie-Claude Bourgeois-Daigneault, Cancer theme, 2026)

Recharge All Your Batteries

Screens allow us to entertain ourselves, socialize, learn, and stay informed. For many, being connected is synonymous with existing. However, are we recharging our devices at the expense of our own inner battery?

The ScrEEn time and NATure (SeeNAT) project aims to document the effects of screen use on the overall health of Canadian adults and to examine whether exposure to nature can help mitigate these negative effects. Exposure to nature, which promotes relaxation, restores attention, and encourages physical and social activities, could be the key to helping us keep all our batteries recharged.

(Labo Isabelle Doré, Innovation hub theme, 2026)

Hide-and-Seek

This immunofluorescence image shows an HIV-1-infected cell lost among a sea of healthy cells. Although almost invisible at first glance, it becomes the focal point of the image once identified.

This image echoes the broader history of the fight against HIV, which remains, above all, a quest for visibility at every level. From scientific research and its search for viral reservoirs to civil society and its fight for equitable access, HIV eradication will depend on continuity between research and its application.

(Labo Andrés Finzi, Immunopathology theme, 2026)

Art of Cell Division

A cascade of molecular events unfolds during cell division, orchestrated by numerous proteins and checkpoint regulators working in perfect coordination. Together, they ensure that genetic information is accurately shared between two daughter cells. This image of early embryonic mitosis captures the beauty of that precision and teamwork, illustrating how various molecular players come together to create a process that is both highly ordered and remarkably elegant. From left to right, the image depicts prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, the onset of anaphase, and anaphase. Chromosomes are labelled in cyan and kinetochores in orange.

(Labo Greg FitzHarris, Immunopathology theme, 2026)

‘‘Oh! How the Snow Has Fallen!’’

In his poem, Émile Nelligan describes his window as a garden of frost. Here, the garden is a carpet of cancer cells, but the frost is very real. Arman is a medicalstudent working on cryoablation, a technique that involves freezing a tumour to destroy it. For his master’s research, he enlisted the help of two biomedical engineering doctoral students, Maude and Rodin, to study cryoablation in real time in the laboratory. In this fluorescence microscopy image, sharp ice crystals pierce and kill the cells, causing them to shift from pale blue to red.

(Labo Thomas Gervais, Cancer theme, 2026)

Mesmerizing Nurseries

Spherical and floating forms,
filamentous, living,
mesmerizing. 

Round chitosan homes,
nurseries for stem cells,
growing from crustacean debris, from lives past,
preparing themselves, children of warm homes,
to repair the world.

To heal within another, within the host,
at least to heal what they can:
the legs, the head, the veins,
the hearts?

Technique and subject: Fluorescence microscopy observation of human mesenchymal stromal cells encapsulated in injectable chitosan-gelatin microspheres for the in situ treatment of ischemic diseases. The microspheres enable allogeneic cell transplantation while promoting their therapeutic paracrine function.

(Labo Sophie Lerouge, Imaging and engineering theme, 2026)  

The regulatory embrace

At the heart of the stress response, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons (in blue) sound the alarm. Yet they are far from acting alone. Around them, constellations of inhibitory synapses (in white) temper their excitement. And the conversation does not stop there. Astrocytes (in orange) wrap their delicate processes around neurons, synapses, and blood vessels, as if sharing a nebulous secret. Together, these cells form a remarkable ecosystem whose interactions shape our capacity to cope with stress. The final insets reveal this hidden world at the scale of the infinitesimal. What do you think their secret might be?

(Labo Ciaran Murphy-Royal, Cardiometabolic theme, 2026)

Between Two Gazes

Losing her hair, growing it back, losing it again…

Through these fragments of life unfolds one patient’s journey with cancer.

The diagnosis, the treatments, the waiting, the relapses, the rebuilding.

These portraits are of my mother.

I photographed them through two perspectives: that of a daughter accompanying her mother, and that of a doctoral student whose view of the care journey is informed by science.

The circle evokes the sometimes relentless cycle of treatments, waiting, starting over, and the passage of time.

Yet, at the heart of this movement, life remains.

(Labo Vincent Poitout, Cardiometabolic theme, 2026)

Dimensions of a Disease

A disease is never revealed through a single lens—quite literally, in our case. In the laboratory, every opportunity to study multiple sclerosis opens a new window: anatomy reveals what we can observe, cells and their molecules unveil the invisible, clinical data tell the story of its progression, and social determinants shed light on the lived experience of the disease.

The images in this photograph—the human brain and the map of immune cells generated through single-cell RNA sequencing—do not come from the same donor. Rather, they bring together complementary perspectives that give our research its full depth.

(Labo Alexandre Prat, Neuroscience theme, 2026)

Mapping an Invisible Constellation

What if the stars were not in the sky, but beneath the skin?

Revealed through immunofluorescence staining of acetylated tubulin, the neuromasts and sensory fibres of the zebrafish form a constellation invisible to the naked eye. Behind this abstract appearance lies a true sensory map, both precise and delicate.

These tiny structures allow the fish to detect movements and vibrations in the water and perceive changes in its environment. Ultimately, beneath the translucent skin of this small creature lies a complex sensory universe, where biology takes on the appearance of a starry sky.

(Labo Éric Samarut, Neuroscience theme, 2026)

When Ultrasound Fades, the Liver Speaks

This image brings together five ultrasound windows illustrating different liver conditions. Starting from the left and moving clockwise: healthy liver, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, a benign lesion, and a malignant lesion. The colours reveal a phenomenon invisible to the naked eye: the attenuation of ultrasound waves as they travel through tissue. By transforming raw ultrasound signals into quantitative maps, our research reveals distinct acoustic signatures and explores their potential to characterize changes in liver tissue non-invasively.

(Labo An Tang, Imaging and engineering theme, 2026) 

The Spaceship

For a fleeting moment, a blood vessel seems to travel through the heart of a galaxy.

Yet this image reveals a very real universe. Using RNAscope, this spatial RNA map unveils the molecular world of a coronary artery from a patient with atherosclerosis who is living with HIV. Each glowing signal becomes a star, and each piece of molecular information a trace of life, transforming human tissue into a cosmic landscape.

At the intersection of science and contemplation, this image invites us to explore the infinitely small with the same sense of wonder as the infinitely vast.

(Labo Cécile Tremblay, Immunopathology theme, 2026)

Sailing into the Fluorescent Nebula

“On the 1,000^th day of our voyage, we reached the edge of the Nebula of Cell.”

This image was captured using Confocal Zeiss LSM900 and reveals a morphological resemblance between cellular stress triggered by the treatment with cisplatin and the topography of deep space. The fluorescent staining highlights nuclear DNA  (blue), HHIP protein expression (green), and mitochondria (magenta) triggered by cellular damage. The curved cellular edge resembles a planetary terminator dividing light and dark, while fragmented mitochondria mimic glowing volcanic fissures on an alien landscape. Offset against deep black space, this microscopic response to injury transforms into a cinematic journey across a distant fluorescent nebula.

(Labo Shao-Ling Zhang, Cardiometabolic theme, 2026)