Author: Julie
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Featured Brain Star Award winner: Sameera Zia, University of Alberta
New therapeutic targets for Multiple Sclerosis identified by studying the role of microglia in myelin repair Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that affects over 100,000 Canadians and is the leading cause of neurological disability amongst people ages 20-40 years. It is a chronic, autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the protective myelin
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Read CAN’s submission to the 2026 pre-budget consultations
Pre-Budget consultations are an opportunity for Canadians from across the country to share their ideas and priorities on how to shape Canada’s future. Please view below CAN’s formal submission to these consultations, which are open until September 8, 2026. You can read about the consultations and participate here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/programs/consultations/2026/pre-budget-consultations-2026.html In this brief, CAN recommends that
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Brain Star Award feature: Dylan Terstege, University of Calgary
Reduced activity in a brain region called the retrosplenial cortex is linked to sex-dependent vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease Alzheimer’s disease (AD) occurs more often and progresses faster in women than men. Understanding the causes of these sex differences will help us to better understand the pathobiology of the disease. Here, Dylan Terstege, working in the
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Industry/University Post-Doctoral Position in Neurogenomics – McGill University
We are seeking applications for fully-funded Post-Doctoral Fellowship positions in our research team at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre of McGill University. The position and training will emphasize the interface between genomics, large data sets, machine learning/AI and neurobiology and mental health with a focus on major depressive disorder. Analyses aim to identify novel, sex-dependent
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Graduate Student Position in Neuroimmunology, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Microglial Biology – University of Alberta
The Macauley Lab at the University of Alberta is recruiting a motivated graduate student to join a project focused on neuroimmune mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease. Our lab studies how immune receptors expressed by microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, influence disease-relevant processes such as amyloid plaque responses, cellular trafficking, lipid handling, inflammation, and
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Brain Star Award feature: Weihua Cai, McGill University
The gut microbiota contributes to pain in fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia is a prevalent syndrome characterized by widespread pain in the absence of evident tissue injury or pathology, making it one of the most mysterious chronic pain conditions. It is thought to result from an overall increased sensitivity to pain. The composition of the gut microbiota in
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Brain Star Award feature: Sung Mo Park, SickKids Hospital
Failed memory recall does not necessarily reflect information loss A publication by SungMo Park, working in the Josselyn/Franklin lab at the Hospital for Sick Children, fundamentally reframes how memory impairment is understood by demonstrating that failed recall does not necessarily reflect irreversible information loss. Instead, they show that memories can persist as “silent engrams”—physically encoded
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Postdoctoral Fellow in Hippocampal Circuit Mechanisms of Memory
Canada Research Chair in Cellular Mechanisms of MemoryTopolnik Laboratory, Université Laval, Québec, Canada The Topolnik Laboratory is recruiting an outstanding and highly motivated postdoctoral fellow to lead an ambitious project examining how prefrontal–hippocampal circuits regulate memory encoding and retrieval through specialized VIP interneuron populations. This position is intended for a scientist who wants to develop
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Brain Star Award feature: Adrienne Kinman, University of British Columbia
Identification of a new brain cell important for object memory Adrienne Kinman, working in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Cembrowski at the University of British Columbia, has identified a new type of brain cells, called ovoid neurons, and showed it responds specifically to novel, but not familiar objects. Named for the egg-like shape of their
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Brain Star Award feature: Ali Golbabaei, Sick Kids Hospital and University of Toronto
Memory encoding evolves over time, involving different subregions of the brain Memories for specific events can persist for weeks or months, but the neural mechanisms supporting their storage and retrieval change over time. In this study, Ali Golbabaei, working in the Josselyn-Frankland lab at SickKids Hospital, examined this reorganization within memory-representing neuronal populations (engrams) in
