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Funded Grants

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Development and Investigation of mouse models of deep brain stimulation for self-injurious behaviours in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Project Overview

Shireen and Edna Marcus Excellence Award

There is a pressing unmet need to develop novel therapies for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and self-injurious behaviours (SIB). Up to half of children with ASD manifest SIB, which is associated with significant morbidity and mortality with few effective treatment options. Given advances in the understanding of the neural circuitry underlying SIB, there are meaningful opportunities to develop neuromodulation strategies targeting abnormal brain networks to improve SIB symptoms. Through partnerships with the advanced animal facilities located at the Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP), and cutting-edge mouse imaging resources at the Mouse Imaging Centre (MICe), we have developed novel translational models of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for SIB. This work will yield clinically-relevant mechanistic understandings of SIB-related brain circuitry by studying behavioural data, histological markers and brain magnetic resonance imaging from a translational mouse model of ASD and SIB. This knowledge can be translated to the clinical practice to improve patient outcome, especially as a parallel to the an ongoing Health Canada-monitored clinical trial at SickKids investigating DBS for ASD-SIB in children.

Principal Investigator

Flavia Venetucci Gouveia , The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute

Partners and Donors

Shireen & Edna Marcus Foundation

Project Ongoing

Development and Investigation of mouse models of deep brain stimulation for self-injurious behaviours in Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • Program Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Neurodevelopment

  • Competition

    Rising Stars Trainee Awards

  • Province

    Ontario

  • Start Date

    2022

  • Total Grant Amount

    $4,500

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

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Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

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