The quest for better understanding of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease (AD) has a powerful new tool at its disposal 鈥� the ability to artificially generate brain cells that have been shown to play an important role in the disease function.
We are truly happy and fortunate to welcome聽Drs. Christine Tardif and David Rudko as new BIC core Faculty members, effective May 01, 2017. They join the BIC team and platform as MR specialists, in particular at ultra-high fields for small-animal and human imaging.
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) is home to Canada鈥檚 first multiple sclerosis (MS) clinic, and MS research and treatment has been a major focus at The Neuro for many years. The MS clinic employs a highly specialized staff who have access to the latest research data and methods of treatment. It is a clinic where innovation and progress are paramount.
Brain diseases and disorders are the leading cause of disability, directly affecting one in three Canadians as well as millions of family members, friends, colleagues and caregivers. The Government of Canada recognizes the significant impact on the health of Canadians, and supports Canadian research on the brain and related diseases and disorders
It is our great pleasure to announce that our centre has been awarded a Brain Canada Platform Support Grant of $3.9M. We are thankful to the MNI and the Webster Family Foundation for providing the matching funds that have been key to secure this funding. The PSG grant is to add聽capacity for data acquisition, management, analytics,聽dissemination, with an emphasis on open-access sharing, expanding capacity for all imaging modalities featured at the BIC,聽and聽training of staff, highly-qualified personnel and platform users over 3 years.聽
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) is recognized worldwide for its research and clinical expertise in Parkinson鈥檚 disease (PD). PD is a motor neuron disease that is generally associated with old age, but people can also develop it in their thirties and forties. Characteristic symptoms include tremor, rigidity and gait dysfunction, mood and sleep disorders, and cognitive degeneration. About 100,000 Canadians have PD.
The ability to remember sounds, and manipulate them in our minds, is incredibly important to our daily lives 鈥� without it we would not be able to understand a sentence, or do simple arithmetic. New research is shedding light on how sound memory works in the brain, and is even demonstrating a means to improve it.
March 26 is Purple Day for Epilepsy, a day to support epilepsy awareness worldwide
The Neuro has been a world leader in epilepsy treatment and research for more than 60 years. Indeed, the 鈥淢ontreal Procedure鈥� developed by The Neuro鈥檚 founder, Dr. Wilder Penfield, and his colleagues has become the standard operating procedure for the surgical treatment of epilepsy. The Neuro was also a pioneering institute in exploiting electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study and treat epilepsy.
In an article published in Nature on Feb. 15, 2017, researchers, including principal investigators from the Montreal Neurological Institute鈥檚 McConnell Brain Imaging Centre (BIC), used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the development of autism in babies.
Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver, British Columbia 鈥� Working together to accelerate research into neurological diseases, three leading players in Canada鈥檚 health sciences sector are joining forces in a unique multi-million dollar partnership to create a novel drug development platform that will help advance new therapeutics for some of the most debilitating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig鈥檚 disease, and Parkinson鈥檚 disease.
A foray into plant biology led one researcher to discover that a natural molecule can repair axons, the thread-like projections that carry electrical signals between cells. Axonal damage is the major culprit underlying disability in conditions such as spinal cord injury and stroke.
Research and clinical care complement each other at The Neuro
February 28th was Rare Diseases Day, an opportunity to recognize a class of disease that is often overlooked. In the past five years, the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) has made the study and treatment of rare diseases a major priority, hiring new specialists and support staff and coordinating activity under a new research group.
We are pleased to welcome聽Dr. Stephan Blinder as the new BIC PET physicist on staff.聽
Stephan completed his PhD in Astrophysics (U de Bordeaux I, France) and later shifted his interest towards biomedical imaging research. He worked for 4 years with the MIRG group led by Dr. Anna Celler (U of British Columbia, Vancouver) on SPECT imaging, focusing on 3D and 4D image reconstruction techniques.聽
CQDM and Brain Canada join forces again in the funding of two new research projects to address unmet needs in brain research
CQDM and Brain Canada are proud to announce the funding of two new multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research projects under the second edition of their Focus on Brain strategic initiative. The partners will award a total of $3M to two research teams to develop cutting-edge tools, technologies and platforms designed to accelerate the discovery of new drugs for brain and nervous system disorders.
