Category: News
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How a small worm helped unravel a big mystery in rare disease – SickKids researchers discover the important role of zinc in CCM disease
Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) is a rare disease that causes anomalies in tiny capillaries that transport blood throughout the brain. The disease manifests as irregularities that resemble raspberries, most often in the brain, that can lead to hemorrhage, stroke and seizures in afflicted individuals. The disease involves defects in one of three CCM genes (CCM1,…
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The GPS of neurons now better understood with an IRCM study published in Neuron
Our nerves consist of small cables responsible for circulating information to every part of our body, allowing us, for instance, to move. These cables are actually cells called neurons with long extensions named axons.
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Discovery of mutations in ACTL6B gene offers insight into brain development
Québec siblings with rare orphan disease lead to discovery of rare genetic diseases Mutations in a gene involved in brain development have led to the discovery of two new neurodevelopmental diseases by an international team led by researchers at McGill University and CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. The first clues about the rare disorder arose after…
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13th annual Canadian neuroscience meeting
Published on Eurekalert, April 15, 2019 https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-04/cafn-1ac041519.php The Scientific Program Committee, chaired by Paul Frankland and co-chair Ruth Slack, along with local chair Julie Lefebvre, have put together an exciting roster of scientific presentations, community building events and opportunities for networking and career development. Scientific highlights of the 2019 meeting include plenary lectures by Michelle…
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Canadian Artificial Intelligence pioneers win the 2019 Turing Award
Congratulations to Geoffrey Hinton (University of Toronto), Joshua Bengio (Université de Montréal) and Yann LeCun (Boston University) who have won the 2019 Turing award for their work to understand neural networks using artificial intelligence and deep learning. The Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to an individual…
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New molecules reverse memory loss linked to depression, aging
New therapeutic molecules developed at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) show promise in reversing the memory loss linked to depression and aging. These molecules not only rapidly improve symptoms, but remarkably, also appear to renew the underlying brain impairments causing memory loss in preclinical models. These findings were presented at the American…
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Congratulations to Brain Prize winners Marie-Germaine Bousser, Hugues Chabriat, Anne Joutel and Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve
The Brain Prize 2019: French neuroscientists honoured for outstanding research into small vessel strokes in the brain Aiming for treatment they have spent more than 30 years describing, understanding and diagnosing the most common hereditary form of stroke, CADASIL. For this, the four French neuroscientists are now receiving the world’s most valuable prize for brain…
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A new experimental therapy for ALS and fronto-temporal dementia
Jean-Pierre Julien’s team recently published an article in the high impact journal, the Journal of Clinical Investigations, about a new experimental therapy for ALS and frontotemporal dementia based on the use of antibodies that target the abnormal accumulation of a protein called TDP-43 in degenerating neurons. The formation of TDP-43 aggregates is associated with ALS development.
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Spinal cords contribute to complex hand function
We often think of our brains as the centre of complex motor function and control, but how ‘smart’ is your spinal cord? Turns out, it is smarter than we think. Circuits which travel down the length of our spine control things like the pain reflex in humans and some motor-control functions in animals. Now, new…
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Brain scan series aid concussed rugby players
Researchers at Western have developed an objective way to monitor female athletes’ concussion injury, by using brain scans to study their brains over time. By using a technique that combines both structural and functional MRI information, Western University researchers were able to identify three unique signatures – one that shows acute brain changes after an…