MONTREAL — Classmates Wyatt Price-Gallagher and Elliott Kobelansky are sharing a pretty good stage to display their medical exhibit on the dangers of concussions. After all, these budding scientists or future doctors are set up in the main lobby of the MUHC’s new state-of-the-art Research Institute.
“It would be really great to work here. All this amazing space. Really big. Just looks really modern,” Elliott said.
It’s no wonder a group of Grade 5 students are in awe. A smoky chemical experiment was used to unveil the $310 million facility.
Theatrics aside, this building is the new MUHC research centre designed to attract some of the brightest scientific and medical minds in the business.
Physicians are showing off cutting-edge technology they hope will lead to medical breakthroughs.
Dr. John Bergeron is thrilled to be working in this new laboratory. The McGill medical professor says what’s set up here will help researchers diagnose certain types of cancer through the study of genomes and proteins.
“There is a huge international push for ovarian cancers and pancreatic, all cancers, to be able to pick them up before the first manifestations of that cancer and these are the machines that are designed to do that,” he said.
For now, though, its politicians and senior health care officials who fill the corridors. But by the end of the month, hundreds of researchers, medical graduates and post docs will take their place and work the labs.
Putting the hospitals and research facilities under one roof is considered a huge advantage.
“This proximity will allow us to communicate faster and, of course, to advance research faster,” Bertrand Jean-Claude, a McGill associate professor said.
A modern facility with industry leading equipment will certainly create a lot of pressure for researchers to perform.
“The pressure is huge because now have state-of-the-art facilities, equipment. Some of them are unique in Canada,” Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos, MUHC Research Institute Director said.
The research facility is the fourth largest in Canada. It’s expected to be a world class centre for years to come. Perhaps long enough for Wyatt Price-Gallagher to eventually work here.
Afterall, the 11-year-old already has a sharp mind when it comes to understanding the dangers of concussions.
“Damage blood vessels, which form pools inside of the brain. putting pressure on one side of the brain,” Wyatt said.
Learning more about concussions and discovering medical breakthroughs will certainly make up part of the DNA of this centre as researchers look to improve patient care.
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