Specific brain cells are critical for linking stress controllability and future behaviour

Jaideep Bains
Jaideep Bains

UCalgary researchers discover that a group of ancient cells may play a key role in controlling stress

Stress is ubiquitous, and at no time in recent memory has this been more evident than right now — on a global scale. Our survival depends on our ability to continually adjust and respond to ever-evolving challenges in our world.

Interestingly, how we manage stress now has implications for how we will manage stress in the future. It is not necessarily about the actions we take now, but rather whether we feel our actions give us some control over the outcome during a difficult time. Psychologists and neuroscientists have pondered this ‘stress control’ theory for decades, but how the brain intertwines the perception of controllability of one situation into decisions and actions for future situations has not been well understood. Continue reading

COVID-19 assistance on federal laboratory reagents – Round #2

The Public Health Agency of Canada has sent a second call for items and reagents for the public health laboratories

  • For loan:
    1. Thermofisher Kingfisher Flex Purification Systems (automated nucleic acid purification) with the 96- Deep Well head
    2. Associated plastic consumables (96-well plate blocks) would also be of interest
  1. For use:
    1. Laboratory grade Guanidine thiocyanate

As with ‘Round 1” please forward any items to:

Rita Finley (rita.finley@canada.ca)

Public Health Agency of Canada – call for reagents for COVID19 testing

We have been made aware by some of our members that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has sent out an urgent request for reagents, specifically RNA extraction reagents for COVID19 testing.  If you have such reagents in your laboratory that you could donate (view list below) please consider doing so. If the laboratories have materials that we could use and are not included in the list, feel free to let us know and we will share with the National Microbiology Laboratory and asses their current requirements.
The contact person at the PHAC is Rita Finley (rita.finley@canada.ca).  As this is a time-sensitive request please let her know directly what you have available. Continue reading

A study by Martin Lévesque and his team explains the role of dopaminergic neurons in hyperactivity and suggests a mechanism of action for Ritalin

Martin LévesqueRead a new article by Université Laval news on a discovery by Martin Lévesque’s team

Cellular cogs of hyperactivity uncovered – Study clarifies the role of dopaminergic neurons in hyperactivity and suggests a mechanism of action for Ritalin

The cellular mechanism uncovered by the researchers could explain the mode of action of Ritalin in humans. The drug is believed to block the reuptake of dopamine by neurons, thereby prolonging the effects of this neurotransmitter.

Although about one in 10 people will suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in their lifetime, the cellular causes of this health problem are still very poorly understood. A study published in Cell Reports by a team from Laval University’s CERVO Research Centre now sheds some light on the subject. The researchers were able to determine which type of neurons are involved in the development of hyperactivity in mice and the cellular mechanisms involved. This breakthrough suggests a plausible mode of action for Ritalin, a drug widely prescribed for ADHD, but whose mechanism of action is unknown. Continue reading

McGill researchers end decade-long search for mechanical pain sensor

Reza Sharif-Naeini, image from McGill.ca
Reza Sharif-Naeini

Discovery brings hope for novel pain treatment

Researchers at McGill University have discovered that a protein found in the membrane of our sensory neurons are involved in our capacity to feel mechanical pain, laying the foundation for the development of powerful new analgesic drugs.

The study, published in Cell, is the first to show that TACAN, a highly conserved protein among vertebrates whose function remained unclear, is in fact involved in detecting mechanical pain by converting mechanical pressures into electric signals. Continue reading

Pain hypersensitivity: problem at the pump

Yves De Koninck
Yves De Koninck

Pain hypersensitivity and many other diseases could be associated with a protein that acts as an ion pump in neurons.

The research team led by  Yves De Koninck, at Université Laval’s Faculté de médecine and the CERVO Brain Research Centre had already targeted a protein called KCC2 as a key player in the mechanism leading to pain hypersensitivity.  A new study published in Nature Communications confirms confirms this lead and reinforces the idea that this protein could be a target of choice for the creation of a new class of analgesics to treat this problem that medicine is often powerless to address. Continue reading

Previous advocacy award winners

Learn about our 2020 winners:

September 15, 2020: CAN-ACN has revoked the 2020 Advocacy award that had been awarded to Roger Hudson and First Person Science, following an incident during which CAN-ACN’s values were not adhered to. A statement regarding this incident by former members of the group can be found here.

Learn about past winners:

2019

2018

2017

2016

CAN participation in SfN’s Hill Day

CAN participation in SfN’s Hill Day

Charles Bourque, CAN VP, with Michael Heintz, Director of Advocacy & Training at SfN and fellow neuroadvocates on Capitol Hill
Charles Bourque, CAN VP, with Michael Heintz, Director of Advocacy & Training at SfN and fellow neuroadvocates on Capitol Hill

CAN was invited by SfN to participate once again in SfN’s Hill Day, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on March 5, 2020.  CAN Vice-President Charles Bourque and CAN Past-President and current member of SfN’s GPA committee Jaideep Bains were present for this important event. Each was paired with a group of neuroadvocates from different states and to meet with elected officials and their staff to advocate for more funding for NIH and NSF. It was an opportunity to network with fellow neuroadvocates, to learn from our colleagues at SfN effective advocacy strategy.

“Support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Capitol Hill is bipartisan and strong.  Republican and Democrats equally recognize the importance of investing in health research – this is truly inspiring. We have work to do in Canada to increase the support for our NIH equivalent, CIHR, but the example of the our US colleagues shows us how to do this, and the importance of being mobilized towards this goal.”

-Charles Bourque

 

Jaideep Bains on Capitol Hill
Jaideep Bains on Capitol Hill – photo  credit: SfN

“Visiting US senators and representatives during Capitol Hill Day was a great experience. It confirmed that face-to-face contact and open discussion can have a real impact on the support elected officials have for science, and help build lasting relationships between scientists and politicians.”

-Jaideep Bains

We wish to thank Charles Bourque and Jaideep Bains for representing CAN at Hill Day.

The support CAN receives from SfN, both in terms of in-kind training and exchange, and funds for advocacy in Canada that we receive through our Memorandum of Understanding with SfN are of critical importance to allow us to pursue our advocacy goals in Canada.