Project Overview

The recent breakthrough technology of single-cell genomics has vastly improved our capacity to understand how the trillions of cells in our body develop and work together to make us human. This advance combines the power of the microscope, used to discover that all biological organisms are composed of cells, with the power of DNA sequencing, used to map the human genome. Thus, with single-cell genomics, we can not only map cells, but measure vast quantities of molecular information about them by the millions. A large number of fundamental scientific challenges, such as how diseases develop within our cells and how the brain repairs itself, are now much closer to being solved.

In this proposal, we will develop a Canadian national core facility dedicated to making state-of-the-art single-cell genomics technology available to brain researchers. By centralizing technology development in a core facility, we will have capacity to evaluate the many experimental and computational aspects of single-cell genomics technologies and make these available to the community. This will catalyze research in many areas of brain health and disease, all of which critically depend on access to single-cell genomics technology. The research our core enables will benefit the health of all Canadians who suffer from brain diseases.

Learn more on the Brain Single Cell Initiative website

Principal Investigator

Trevor Pugh , University Health Network, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Partners and Donors

Princess Margaret Cancer Center