Microbiology

Our department is a prime reference hub for both hospital and private sector laboratories. We provide the following services:

• State-of-the-art diagnostic services
• An infection prevention control testing program
• Methods development and research

Education

Our laboratory offers a full range of high-quality microbiology services, from routine cultures and susceptibility testing to molecular diagnostic testing. Our medical and scientific staff continually work to develop new assays in response to clinical and research needs.

Clinical laboratory  

Our laboratory provides diagnostic services to Sinai Health’s Mount Sinai Hospital and Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital and to the hospital sites of the University Health Network: Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

We also provide diagnostic services to Baycrest, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto Grace and the Trillium Gift of Life Network.

Our clinical laboratory offers state-of-the-art diagnostics with a comprehensive test menu. We serve as a testing facility for many external clients and offer customized testing.  

Our services include:

• Bacteriology
• Routine and reference antimicrobial susceptibility testing
• Antimicrobial resistant organism testing
  ◦ Screening
  ◦ Typing
• Sterility Testing
  ◦ Patient samples
  ◦ Non-patient samples
  ◦ Environmental  
• Living & cadaveric donor testing
• Virology
• Molecular diagnostics
• Serology  
• Mycology

You can find a complete list of the tests we performs in our laboratory manuals.

Infection control

Our laboratory serves the needs of infection prevention and control programs at our partner and client hospital and health care organizations.  

Research  

Our medical and scientific staff are recognized internationally for our work on methods development and our peer-reviewed research projects. This includes both independent research projects and those carried out collaboration with other academic, government or industry partners.

We continually test and develop new assays in response to clinical and research needs in a wide range of areas, including epidemiology and the diagnosis, prevention and management of infectious diseases.  

Education

Our laboratory is affiliated with the University of Toronto and provides clinical and research training to a wide range of learners including undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate.  

We also serve as a venue for the training of laboratory technologists in partnership with the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, St. Lawrence College and Ontario Tech University and the training of technicians from various educational institutes.