Subventions financées

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are two devastating neurodegenerative diseases which have overlap in pathological features and the genetic basis.

The Histology Innovation Platform at McGill University is a specialized facility that helps scientists study the brain at a cellular level to better understand neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, brain cancer, and epilepsy.

Challenge: ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is an incurable and invariably fatal motor neuron (MN) disease.

Mixed dementia is the most common form of dementia.

While most forms of ALS occur in adulthood, mutations in the gene termed Serine Palmitoyltransferase Long Chain Base Subunit 1 (SPTLC1) arise in children.

Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive brain cancers, with very few treatment options and a poor survival rate.

We discovered that approximately one fifth of people with the deadly brain tumour glioblastoma show age-related genetic changes in their blood cells called ‘clonal hematopoiesis’, or CHIP.

Epilepsy is a common brain disorder that causes repeated seizures and can significantly affect a person’s daily life.

Challenge: Delivery of therapeutic proteins to the brain has been a longstanding barrier to CNS drug
development.

Person-centred care is vital for dementia patients in hospitals to prevent stress-induced behaviors.