School of Medical Sciences postdoctoral fellow talks about microglia in Sooke Middle School

Fernando González Ibañez, who is part of the Tremblay lab, went as part of the Speaker’s Bureau, a UVic program that connects researchers with the local community to share the latest in science, increase science literacy, combat misinformation and inspire interest in STEM. Students of Journey Middle School in Sooke recently learned about the immune system, which is the main topic of research of González Ibáñez who studies microglia.

Microglia are cells of the immune system that reside in the brain. They are constantly surveilling the brain and react to cellular damage, elimination of dying cells and respond quickly to inflammatory cues from within or outside the brain. In the last years new research has shown that microglia have many roles then previously thought, both in contexts of health and disease. For example, they have active role in neuronal network refinement throughout the lifespan or interact directly with amyloid beta plaques found in Alzheimer’s disease.  

During his presentation González Ibáñez talked about the origin of microglia, their main roles on health and disease and the different techniques used to study microglia with a special emphasis on imaging techniques such as electron microscopy, a technique González Ibáñez has been working for over 8 years. The presentation ended with examples of two published works on microglia, microglia and zika virus infection and how diet affects microglia and mood.

After the presentation, the class was also interested in knowing about headaches, ketogenic diet, and tobacco smoke.

A fluent French speaker, González Ibáñez was able to give his talk in both French and English in order to match the concepts the students have learned about the immune system in French as they are part of the French immersion program.

At the end the students provided feedback and comments:

“I didn’t even know what a microglia was before your awesome presentation!”

“I was happy to learn about microglia and how they react to wounds in the head or skull.”

“Thank you for coming and presenting to us, I learned a lot during your presentation, but the coolest thing was the microglia, I never knew they existed!”

“I find it cool that it’s cool and surprising that you can get 3d drawings/pictures of cells.”

“Once again, thank you for presenting! (also my dog’s name is Fernando >;P)”

Dr. González Ibáñez is a postdoctoral research fellow who’s research is supported by BC Health Michael Smith research fellowship, in the lab of Dr. Marie-Ève Tremblay. Dr. Tremblay is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology of Healthy Cognitive Aging in the Faculty of Health and the School of Medical Sciences where her research focuses on the study of microglia in health and disease with a strong use of electron microscopy.