Funded Grants

Dr. Peter McPherson, professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University will receive one year of support to work on the connection between the most prominent known cause of ALS, a mutation in a gene called C9ORF72, and a previously unrelated critical cellular function called endosomal membrane trafficking.

Motor neurons are extremely complex cells. Not only do they have an intricate set of inner workings, but they have a long wire-like portion called an axon that connects the central nervous system to muscles called an axon.

This project is a Phase II study involving 100 participants across 8 ALS clinics across Canada. The trial, led by the Principal Investigator of the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry (CNDR) and the Chair of the Canadian ALS Research Network (CALS) will examine whether pimozide, a drug already approved by Health Canada for use in psychoses like schizophrenia and Tourette’s syndrome, might slow progression of ALS.

In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the accumulation of toxic Tau protein in neurons leads to the formation of neurofbillary tangles, cell death, and cognitive impairments.

Mitochondrial dysfunctions are observed before and during the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

New neuroimaging techniques enable us to measure the key hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology before symptoms appear.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) are two of the most common and devastating neurodegenerative diseases, affecting more than 2% of the population over the age of 65.

No medications exist that can stop or even slow the progression for Alzheimer Disease (AD).

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.

Currently, AD diagnosis can only be confirmed post-mortem by observing two AD hallmarks in the brain, β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and tau strands.