March 10, 2021
When we think about mental health, we often think of the brain in our heads. But what about what some refer to as our second brain – the gut? Could changes to the trillions of microorganisms in the gut affect our emotions? And could studying the gut lead to new treatments for depression?
January 29, 2021
University of Alberta researchers have discovered a new method to identify the severity of Lou Gehrig’s disease in patients and track its progression. The U of A team, led by Sanjay Kalra, a professor in the Division of Neurology, has made progress toward an imaging biomarker for white-matter degeneration in the brains of ALS patients, which they hope will lead to earlier diagnosis and potential new therapeutics.
January 28, 2021
Dr. Richi Gill, MD, is back at work, able to enjoy time with his family in the evening and get a good night’s sleep, thanks to research. Three years ago, Gill broke his neck in a boogie board accident while on vacation with his young family. Getting mobile again with the use of a wheelchair is the first thing, Gill says, most people notice. However, for those with a spinal cord injury (SCI), what is happening inside the body also severely affects their quality of life.
January 05, 2021
Medical researchers reliably predicted autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a large sample of at-risk children by identifying and tracking early behavioural signs at 12 months of age, according to study findings published Dec. 25 in Child Development.
December 04, 2020
Ravi Rungta, a young assistant professor of dentistry at UdeM, is recognized by the Brain Canada Foundation as one of the country's top 20 leaders in brain research.
December 04, 2020
UdeM neurobiologist Janelle Drouin-Ouellet is reprogramming neuronal cells from skin samples of elderly Parkinson’s patients to see how the cells change over time – and discover new treatments.
November 12, 2020
Six McGill University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences researchers — Boris Bernhardt, Mark Brandon, Yasser Iturria-Medina, Jean-Francois Poulin, Jo Anne Stratton and Masha Prager-Khoutorsky — have received grants to support their work in the early-career stage, after being chosen from 150 talented applicants.
November 09, 2020
University of Saskatchewan (USask) pharmacologist Robert Laprairie will use a Brain Canada research grant to determine how a mother’s use of cannabis during pregnancy affects the brain of the developing fetus she’s carrying.
June 30, 2020
Females process pain differently, but search for pain medication still based on hypotheses drawn from work in males It is increasingly clear that male and female humans and rodents process pain in different ways. Despite this fact, according to a review paper from McGill University published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, most pain research remains overwhelmingly based on the study of male rodents, continuing to test hypotheses derived from earlier experiments on males. Jeffrey Mogil was the principal investigator on a 2014 Brain Canada Team Grant that studied sex differences in pain.
June 30, 2020
Female college rugby players may have subtle brain changes even if they haven't had a recent concussion, according to a new study published in the June 17, 2020, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study was supported through a 2015 Brain Canada Platform Support Grant, led by Ravi Menon.
April 03, 2020
Canadian scientists have developed an innovative new technique that uses artificial intelligence to better define the different sections of the brain in newborns during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam. The study was supported by Brain Canada through a 2014 Platform Support Grant, led by Dr. Gregory A. Lodygensky.
February 25, 2020
Dr. Benjamin Goldstein, recipient of a Brain Canada Improving Health Outcomes Team Grant, discusses his research on aerobic exercise as a treatment for teens with bipolar disorder as part of Bell Let's Talk Day.
February 25, 2020
La Banque de cerveaux Douglas-Bell Canada, à Montréal, est l'une des plus grandes banques du genre au monde. À l'occasion de ses 40 ans, le Dr Naguib Mechawar, directeur de la banque et professeur au Département de psychiatrie de l'Université McGill, explique comment quelque 3000 cerveaux sont conservés et comment ils contribuent aux recherches sur la dépression, le suicide et l'alzheimer. La banque de cerveaux Douglas-Bell Canada a été soutenue par une subvention de soutien aux plateformes.
February 25, 2020
U of A neuroscientist Jason Plemel was part of a team of Canadian researchers who discovered that immune cells in the brain and spinal cord behave differently from blood immune cells in their response to nerve damage. Dr. Plemel received a 2018 Azrieli Foundation-Brain Canada Early-Career Capacity Building Grant to further study the role of microglia in a progressive MS model.
February 20, 2020
A new paper by UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Dr. Brett Finlay and a team of fellows from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) proposes that non-communicable diseases may be transmitted between people through the microbiome. Brett Finlay is the Co Director of the CIFAR Humans & the Microbiome program, supported by Brain Canada.
January 29, 2020
New technique could be used to choose best therapies for patients and measure their effectiveness. Evaluating the effectiveness of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases is often difficult because each patient’s progression is different. The research was supported through a 2015 Platform Support Grant for the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre.
January 28, 2020
To better treat people with depression, not only must we treat the neurons affected by the disease, but we must also restore the integrity of the barrier that regulates exchanges between blood circulation and the brain. The Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank was supported through a 2014 Platform Support Grant, led by Gustavo Turecki.
January 28, 2020
Neuroscience researchers at Western University have developed the first open-access repository for raw data from mouse cognitive testing. Called MouseBytes, the database gives researchers a platform to share rodent cognition data using touchscreen cognitive testing with labs around the world. The work was supported through a 2012 MIRI Team Grant and the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP).
December 17, 2019
Adrian Owen tells Jim Al-Khalili about his search for awareness in brain-injured patients. Adrian Owen is the co-Director of CIFAR's Azrieli Program in Brain, Mind & Consciousness, which receives support from Brain Canada.
November 27, 2019
Cette semaine à Découverte, nous faisons le point sur une maladie qui touchera un million de canadiens, en 2050 : L’Alzheimer est irréversible et incurable. Pourquoi la recherche piétine-t-elle? Qu’en est-il du diagnostic précoce? Que sait-on de cette maladie? Survol d'une maladie qui mystifie encore la communauté scientifique. Sylvia Villeneuve a reçu une subvention de la Société Alzheimer et la Fondation Brain Canada en 2016 pour le projet - Suivi de la progression de la maladie d’Alzheimer dans ses premiers stades : un projet multimodal.
November 06, 2019
A recent Canadian study is showing that addressing housing needs for people who are living on the streets and struggling with mental illness could reduce homelessness in the long term. Brain Canada provided $100,000 to support the initial two-city pilot study in 2008.
November 06, 2019
Deleting an autism gene called TRIO derails neurons’ journey to their destination. Lara Eid received a 2018 Brain Canada - Kids Brain Health Network Training Award.
November 06, 2019
In a new study published today by Nature Communications, Adrian Owen and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge compared brain of patients in a vegetative state with those of healthy participants who were anaesthetized. Adrian Owen is the co-Director of CIFAR's Azrieli Program in Brain, Mind & Consciousness, which receives support from Brain Canada.
November 06, 2019
Scientists demonstrate flaws in protein detection tools, and outline a solution A new study points to the need for better antibody validation, and outlines a process that other labs can use to make sure the antibodies they work with function properly. This work was supported by an ALS Canada-Brain Canada Arthur J. Hudson Translational Team Grant.
October 03, 2019
Medical science has a deadly historical bias problem: until very recently, most studies only included males. The article features Dr. Jeffrey Mogil, and mentions research supported by the 2014 Brain Canada Team Grant he received.