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Funded Grants

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Validation of Connexins and Pannexins as a target for Alzheimer’s Disease

Project Overview

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for over two thirds of cases. As of 2013, there are over 44 million people with dementia worldwide. This number is estimated to increase to over 75 million in 2030; 1.4 million of these will be in Canada. Today, the combined medical costs and lost earnings due to dementia accounts for a total of $33 billion per year. With regard to AD, there are currently no successful treatments, making the discovery of effective therapeutic interventions critical. The major hallmark of AD is cognitive impairment linked to neuronal dystrophy, synaptic impairment and finally death of neurons (i.e., neurodegeneration). The brain contains billions of neurons, and substantially more non-neuronal cells called glia; the major ones relevant to this proposal are astrocytes. While most therapeutic approaches target the neurons to prevent their death, this proposal focuses both on neurons and astrocytes to enhance their ability to protect neurons from death. We specifically propose to target a unique set of membrane channels in astrocytes and neurons which modulate the extracellular environment in which the cells of the brain must function. The outcome of these studies will be the identification of unique new drugs which will not only directly target neurons but also enhance the astrocytes’ abilities to protect neurons that are vulnerable to degeneration in AD.

Principal Investigator

Christian Naus , University of British Columbia

Team Members

Weihong Song, University of British Columbia

Juan Saez, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Christian Giaume, Collège de France

Luc Leybaert, Ghent University

Partners and Donors

Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

Genome BC

Project Ongoing

Validation of Connexins and Pannexins as a target for Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Program Type

    Team grants

  • Area of research

    Neurodegeneration

  • Disease Area

    Alzheimer’s

  • Competition

    BC Alzheimer's Research Award Program

  • Province

    British Columbia

  • Start Date

    2014

  • Total Grant Amount

    $1,410,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $705,000

Contact Us

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

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

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