Lab PROFILE Lab technicians can sample for pollen, to which they apply a basic stain to make them visible, and fungal spores. “Fungal spores are much smaller than pollen is, so we have to look at that at a much smaller magnification because some of [the spores] are only a couple of microns big,” Jurgens says. “Some of the bigger pollens are over 100-150 microns.” When it comes to identifying what sort of pollen is in the air, Jurgens says the lab can pinpoint the genus and sometimes the family, but not the species. “Pine, for example, is one of the ones we can identify to the family level, meaning that it’s all pine, or spruce [which is] part of the same family,” she says. “The pollen itself doesn’t have any morphological differences that can be found microscopically, and they all have similar allergenicity anyways. It’s pretty much the highest identification we can get looking at them under a microscope. You would have to do something like DNA testing in order to get higher identifications on them.”
Pharmaceutical companies rely on our data because they know it’s accurate and current... We get a lot of business there – Daniel Coates, Director, Marketing and Business Development
Contributing to research The data Aerobiology collects doesn’t just benefit Canadian allergy sufferers; it is highly sought after by researchers and pharmaceutical companies. “Pharmaceutical companies rely on our data because they know it’s accurate and current,” Coates says. “We get a lot of business there.” Although the lab itself does not conduct clinical research, it participates in clinical trials all across Canada and the U.S. by sending out its self-designed sampling equipment to different trial sites and analyzing the pollen data that researchers send back. The results of the analysis are then supplied to the sponsors of the clinical trial. The work of the Aerobiology lab has also appeared in a number of scientific publications and peer reviewed journals in Canada and the U.S. and although the lab’s analysis work is currently focused in Canada, it has participated in research and clinical trials in other countries. Jurgens says Aerobiology is looking to expand its infrastructure in order to provide forecasting in other countries. Aerobiology’s sample analysis work primarily takes place in the summer, when the pollen levels are at their highest. During pollen season, samples come in weekly from each of the 33 sampling sites, equalling about 231 samples a week that technicians must analyze, Jurgens says. Aerobiology is working on developing an automated microscope imaging system that will negate the need for physical samples to be sent to its main office. “We have IT personnel working on the computer software aspect of it, to get high enough resolution images that we can image them automatically and just analyze the images on the computer screens itself, rather than having to do it in the microscope,” Jurgens says. In the winter, Aerobiology requests all equipment be sent back to its main site in Ottawa for servicing, in preparation for the next pollen season. “Most of the sales of the
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