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Motor neurons are made up of three distinct regions. The top of the neuron is composed of branches like a tree called dendrites that receive information to transmit.

Dr. Lutz is currently completing his post-doctoral fellowship entitled “Epigenetic mechanisms of childhood maltreatment”, in which he investigates the strong relationship between childhood malnutrition and mental health outcomes.

In late 2011, a landmark discovery was made which identified that abnormalities (mutation) in a gene called C9ORF72 were responsible for the highest percentage of hereditary ALS and frontotemporal dementia cases.

ALS is a disease characterized by degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons.

In recent years, it was discovered that a microscopic worm called C. elegans could mimic some of the aspects of human ALS when they were engineered to have abnormal (mutant) genes that cause the disease.

Dr. David and his research team are studying the mechanisms that control the delivery and release of iron in the nervous system.

In Alzheimer s disease (AD), critical synaptic connections between neurons disintegrate and cells die.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a severely disabling illness with biological causes that are not well understood. Abnormalities in gene function impacts brain activities and could cause AD.

Discoveries made in Canada by the lab of Dr. Michael Strong over the past few years have implicated a protein called Rho guanidine nucleotide exchange factor (RGNEF) both pathologically and genetically in causing ALS.

Tissue engineering is a process that was originally designed and continues to be used for growing cells outside the body, turning them into functional tissues and organs, and applying them for clinical use.