For every $1 we spend in seed funding through the Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program, Future Leaders will attract an additional $7.75 to build on their findings.
For every $1 we spend in seed funding through the Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program, Future Leaders will attract an additional $7.75 to build on their findings. Since 2019, the Future Leaders program has supported 131 promising early career researchers with $100,000 each to pursue bold ideas, advance their research programs, and launch their careers. This seed funding has allowed Future Leaders to:
Brain Canada is pleased to announce that, in partnership with the Cancer Research Society (CRS), will fund four outstanding research projects focused on brain cancer As part of the of 2025 Doctoral Research Awards and 2025 Operating Grants.
Clinical trial to help children recover from brain cancer
A pilot project funded through a W. Garfield Weston Foundation – Brain Canada Multi-Investigator Research Initiative (MIRI) grant in 2012 proved the feasibility of repairing brain injuries in children caused by radiation treatment. Now, the team is running a phase three clinical trial to test the efficacy of repurposing metformin, a drug widely used to treat diabetes and metabolic disorders in children, at a larger scale to improve outcomes in children recovering from brain cancer.
There are many neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases that affect men and women differently, but we don’t have a clear picture as to why. One factor that may be important is the influence of hormones during puberty, which can change the way in which genes are used by brain cells, affecting their function.
Personalized therapies are not yet a reality for children with medulloblastoma, a highly aggressive form of Brain CancerTreatment involves invasive surgery, radiation to the whole brain and spinal cord, and high doses of chemotherapy. Not only does this approach not cure all patients – the survival rate is 60% – those that do survive face lifelong side effects of radiation on the developing brain, including intellectual disability, growth issues, early strokes, and hearing loss.
