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Synaptive Medical Inc.’s office is bright, open and filled with trendy furniture. There are people at desks who look busy, and medical equipment that looks expensive. There’s also a squishy, pink brain.

The replica brain, explains president and co-founder Cameron Piron, is better than a real one if you’re practising brain surgery. It allows would-be neurosurgeons to try out Synaptive’s software, which helps them find the tumours they want to eliminate and avoid the tissue they want to keep intact.

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Synaptive’s home is in the MaRS Discovery District’s new 20-storey tower in downtown Toronto. The tower has been, to put it mildly, controversial.

It took nine years and three government loans totalling about $380 million before the “innovation hub” overlooking Queen’s Park opened. The final loan was announced in December 2014, after an expert panel decided it was better to help MaRS finish the building than abandon it, despite initial difficulties attracting tenants.