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• Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
• Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building
• 3640 University Street, Room 1/60
• Montreal, QC H3A 2B2
• Canada

• Telephone: 514-398-6335
• Fax: 514-398-5047
• Website:

In addition to laboratory-specific activities, students will attend weekly seminars presented by nationally and internationally recognized researchers (www.mcgill.ca/anatomy/seminar-series). Students will also present their results approximately twice a year to other students in the program in the Research in Progress seminar series.

Current research projects include: cell biology of secretion; cell biology of endocytosis; signal transduction of cell receptors for growth factors and hormones; synthesis and migration of glycoproteins; subcomponents of the Golgi apparatus and their function; biogenesis and function of lysosomes; cell turnover in various tissues; control of cell growth and proliferation; molecular biology of extracellular matrix; structure, composition, and function of basement membranes and connective tissue microfibrils; cell and microfibrils; cell and molecular biology of spermatogenesis; genetic expression of proteins in the formation of cytoskeletal components of spermatozoa; role of endocytosis and secretion by epididymal cells in sperm maturation; molecular biology of Sertoli cell secretions and their interaction with germ cells; synchronization of sperm production; transferrin, transferrin receptors, and iron in germinal cells; differentiation of Blymphocytes in bone marrow in relation to mechanisms of humoral immunity, immunodeficiency states, and B cell neoplasias; control mechanisms and cytokines in B lymphopoiesis; in situ organization and stromal cell-interactions of B lineage precursor cells in bone marrow; microenvironmental regulation of hemopoiesis; differentiation and regulation of cells mediating natural tumor immunosurveillance; tumor cell biology; cell and molecular biology of the formation of dental enamel, dentin, and bone; structure of organic matrices and inorganic crystals of dental enamel; role of hormones and their binding sites with calcified tissues; secretion and degradation of the proteins of enamel matrix, hypothalamo-pituitary function and gonadotropin patterns in ovarian follicular development; polycystic ovarian disease; computer-assisted modeling of morphometric and kinetic data; cell biology and molecular genetics of aging; senescence and cell cycle-specific genes and their products; cryo-electron microscopy.

Human Systems Biology Stream is offered as a complementary stream to the existing M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs entailing a multidisciplinary approach to achieving a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Anatomy. The primary objective of this stream is to offer graduate students academic training in Human Systems Biology. This is an exciting and new multidisciplinary field that aims to understand molecular human diseases at the systems level.

Research in the Department investigates the dynamics and organization of molecules, organelles, cells, and tissues in several major systems of the body. The work makes fundamental contributions to a number of established and emerging multidisciplinary fields: cell and molecular biology, cellular immunology and hematology, reproductive biology, calcified tissue biology, tumor cell biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, and aging.

The Department offers contemporary facilities for the wide range of techniques currently employed in research. Modern methods of cell and molecular biology, immunology, and biochemistry are used in conjunction with specialized microscopy in a variety of experimental systems. Techniques used by Department members include labelling with radioisotopes and other tracers, radioautography, immunocytochemistry, histochemistry, cryo-immune microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, high-resolution electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, backscattered electron imaging, confocal microscopy, 3D cryo-electron microscopy, microinjection, video-microscopy in living cells, X-ray microanalysis, electron diffraction, freeze-fracture replication, computer reconstruction and quantitation, chromatography, subcellular fractionation, recombinant DNA technology, in situ hybridization, tissue grafting, cell and tissue culture, mutant and transgenic mice, hybridomas, and monoclonal antibodies.

The Department has one of the largest and best-equipped electron microscope facilities in the world. Currently in use are four modern electron microscopes, including a Tecnai F20 and a Titan Krios. Combined with some of these microscopes are computer-aided analytical equipment capable of elemental microanalysis, histomorphometry, reconstruction, and quantitation. The high-voltage microscope is particularly useful for certain analytical electron optical procedures such as electron diffraction, lattice imaging, and three-dimensional electron microscopy.