Led by Dr. Emilien Pelletier, the Institut des Sciences de la Mer de Rimouski at the Université du Québec à Rimouski has obtained an LVEM5 benchtop electron microscope to help them study the short-term and long-term effects of nano-materials on the marine environment.

Dr. Pelletier is the Canada Research Chair in Marine Ecotoxicology. The overall objective of the chair is to understand the impact of natural and anthropogenic stresses on the short-and long-term high-latitude coastal ecosystems to contribute to the conservation, protection and sustainable development of cold coastal marine resources.

One of the key focuses of the lab is to study nanotoxicology as it applies to cold coastal environments. This is an emerging discipline that incorporates studies on the environmental fate and toxic effects of nano-materials on human and marine species such as phytoplankton, bivalves and echinoderms.

Currently the researchers are using the LVEM5 in TEM, SEM and STEM modes to examine marine animals that have been exposed to various nano-materials to better understand how these materials are being absorbed and incorporated into their shells.