WINNIPEG – Cereal rust scientist Don Harder didn’t want to see his trusty workhorse put out to pasture.
So he found it a good home.
Harder’s horse? An 11-year-old electron microscope, standing about two metres high and weighing in around a tonne, that was taking up a lab at the Winnipeg Research Centre.
Harder and others used it to study the damage cereal viruses cause plant cells, and discover why some plants are more resistant to rust.
The centre has completed its research requiring the microscope, and is now focusing on wheat genetics.
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“We had to make a choice. The resources are limited,” Harder said. “We couldn’t justify maintaining a very expensive electron microscope laboratory any more.”
Agriculture Canada tried to give the $500,000-microscope to another federal lab, then tried to sell it. However, no one seemed to want it.
“An instrument like this, you don’t mothball it very easily,” Harder said, describing its bulk. “This microscope has years of life left in it.
“To see it just sit there was … a bit of an emotional issue. Quite a bit of my career and that of some of my colleagues was based on using this technology.”
But the microscope’s manufacturer discovered the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation could use a good instrument.
“Because we were unable to sell it, they got in touch with us, and we agreed then that we would donate our instrument to them,” Harder said.
Julia DeFehr, director of fundraising for the foundation, said this is the first time it has received a donation of equipment. She’s delighted about the microscope, since buying one was not an option.
“It replaces an old clunker that was on its last legs, and it’s quite a marvelous thing,” she said.
Study cancer cells
DeFehr said scientists at the Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology, the foundation’s research arm, will use the microscope to study how cancer cells move and spread.
The microscope was moved to the institute on April 22. Harder said knowing it will be put to good use made it easier to part with.
“We hated to see it go, it’s sort of a sad day,” he said. “But at the same time … we were very pleased to make this donation.”
