National Laboratory for Advanced Microscopy, Medical Support

Mexico City. May 22, 2022. – To support the work of clinicians, clinical and academic researchers, and the general population, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) owns the National Laboratory for Advanced Microscopy (LNMA-IMSS), which provides services and assistance in sample preparation through histology sections, clarification, labeling and staining; visualization of live or static samples; Take photos and videos, and reconstruct 3D structures.

Dr. Vadim Perez Koldenkova, head of this laboratory located at the National Medical Center (CMN) Siglo XXI, explained that LNMA-IMSS is one of the three national laboratories for advanced microscopy of the National Laboratory Network of the National Council for Science and Technology. (Conacyt), which are set up as research support centers across the country.

He explained that the headquarters is located in Cuernavaca, Morelos, and is responsible for the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the other headquarters is located in Baja California, and belongs to the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education in Mexico. Ensenada (CICESE).

According to Dr. Perez Koldenkova, diseases are distinguished by their various signs, which can be identified using microscopy techniques.

“Those who come to our unit study signs of different types of cancer such as leukemia, one of the most common types of cancer among children. Also in neurodegenerative diseases, skin diseases, spinal cord damage, COVID-19 and others. In addition, we seek to establish links between researchers working on similar issues at the institutional, national and international level,” he explained.

Dr. Perez Koldenkova highlighted that among the most important equipment owned by LNMA-IMSS, it contains a confocal microscope, a confocal microscope, a microscope for observing and taking color images of large samples, an upright microscope, centrifugal incubators, a laminar flow hood, as well as with a device vibratory to make pieces of living tissue, allowing it to be grown and observed in its original state.

“As IMSS’s National Advanced Microscopy Laboratory we have advantages over other laboratories, we can take images for extended periods of time, observe live samples, and have equipment to make wounds and even grow tissues such as crabs to study them in the best conditions. As close as possible to their natural environment, which It allows us to find out what physiological processes occur in this type of tissue.

Among the main users of the laboratory are the research units of the CMN Siglo XXI Specialty Hospitals, Oncology and Pediatrics. In addition, researchers from IMSS, the Ministry of Health and the Institute for Security and Social Services of State Employees (ISSSTE) in Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Sonora and Veracruz, as well as the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Hospital del Niño Oaxaqueño, Hospital Gea González, among others.

One LNMA-IMSS user is Dr. Maria Rosalia Lira Carmona, Research Associate D in the Medical Research Unit in Infectious Diseases and Parasitology at CMN Siglo XXI Specialty Hospital, who is currently investigating the disease-induced effects of SARS-CoV-2.

“The special case of what we are working on in the IMSS Microscopy Laboratory is a project to detect SARS-CoV-2 antigens in biopsies of patients who unfortunately died of this disease. This is a project of the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases in charge of Dr. Edgar Sevilla Reyes, on which we are collaborating” , explained.

Dr. added. . “The goal is to contribute to the characterization of this spread of the virus in different tissues, and research is ongoing, but antigen detection systems are already standardized thanks to the support of this laboratory.”