Skip to content
Project Directory
  • Français
Donate Now
  • Français
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Leadership
    • Team
    • Publications
    • Careers
  • Diseases/Disorders
    • One Brain
    • ALS
    • Alzheimer’s
    • Autism
    • Brain Cancer
    • Brain Injury
    • Epilepsy
    • Mental Illness
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Parkinson’s
    • Stroke
    • Other
  • Research
    • Programs
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Program Partners
    • Announcements
  • Impact
  • Ways To Give
    • Your Impact
    • How You Can Help
    • Events

Funded Grants

Back to results

Pathogenic mechanisms of C9ORF72 repeat expansion in ALS and development of therapeutics

Project Overview

Dr. Patten started his research career as a PhD student at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Declan Ali in 2004. There he trained in electrophysiology, cell biology and imaging using zebrafish as a model to study neurodevelopment. After publishing several manuscripts on his discoveries and receiving multiple awards, including national recognition for the outstanding quality of his PhD thesis, Dr. Patten pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in Montreal with Drs. Florina Moldovan and Pierre Drapeau. During that time, among other achievements, he developed zebrafish models of human disease including ALS, and used those models to develop a high-throughput method for drug discovery. This procedure was then used by Dr. Patten in the identification of pimozide as a lead compound in a translational pipeline that has led to a multi-centre Canadian clinical trial to start in 2017. The trial is being supported by the first ALS Canada-Brain Canada Arthur J. Hudson Translational Team Grant that was awarded in 2014.

In the initial years of his independence as an Assistant Professor, Dr. Patten will pursue the development and use of zebrafish models of the most common genetic cause of ALS, C9ORF72, as well as use of the high-throughput screening method to examine more promising compounds for further examination. As a key addition to his work, he has formed strong collaborations with international ALS experts with proficiency in developing motor neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that will undoubtedly strengthen the ability to translate zebrafish discoveries to the clinic via the use of human cells.

Principal Investigator

Kessen Patten , Centre INRS-Institut Armand Frappier

Partners and Donors

ALS Society of Canada

Project Ongoing

Pathogenic mechanisms of C9ORF72 repeat expansion in ALS and development of therapeutics

  • Program Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Neurodegeneration

  • Disease Area

    ALS

  • Competition

    ALS Canada-Brain Canada Career Transition Award

  • Province

    Québec

  • Start Date

    2017

  • Total Grant Amount

    $215,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $107,500

Contact Us

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

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

Playing with Marbles Podcast

Join us and take a journey to the real last great frontier – the brain.

Listen

Subscribe to Brain News

Receive our monthly electronic newsletter with updates on funded projects, upcoming events and breakthroughs in brain research.

Sign up

© 2023 Brain Canada Foundation

Registration number: 89105 2094 RR0001

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Design by Field Trip & Co