Author: Julie
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Graham Collingridge – 2016 Brain Prize winner
The Brain Prize for 2016 is awarded to Timothy Bliss, Graham Collingridge and Richard Morris for their ground-breaking research on the cellular and molecular basis of Long-Term Potentiation and the demonstration that this form of synaptic plasticity underpins spatial memory and learning. Learn more on the Brain Prize website
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Vulnerability to depression linked to noradrenaline
First-ever connection between noradrenergic neurons and vulnerability to depression The team of Bruno Giros, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and professor of psychiatry at McGill University, reports the first-ever connection between noradrenergic neurons and vulnerability to depression. Published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, this breakthrough paves the way for new depression…
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Sweets and treats rewire animal brains
Overeating is the largest determinant of obesity, which is one of the biggest health crises affecting Canadians. A new animal study out of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine provides new insight into how high fat diets rapidly rewire the reward circuits in the brain, which can…
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Animal electricity – how we learned that the body and brain are electric machines
A new book by Robert B. Campenot, Professor Emeritus at University of Alberta offers a comprehensive overview of animal electricity, examining its physiological mechanisms as well as the experimental discoveries that form the basis for our modern understanding of nervous systems across the animal kingdom. Learn more about this book, and others, in our neuroscience…
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Scientists discover new way to protect neurons during stroke
Research from Roger Thompson’s laboratory, at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, shows new therapeutic could protect the brain and lead to better stroke outcomes. The discovery of a new signaling pathway in neurons could help researchers understand how to protect the brain during a stroke. Researchers have long thought that a protein called the NMDA receptor…
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Discovery of a mechanism that controls neuron production from stem cells
The discovery by a team at the Institut de Recherche Clinique de Montréal (IRCM) could contribute to the development of cell therapies and more targeted treatments against cancer A study conducted by a research team led by Michel Cayouette, Full IRCM Research Professor and Director of the Cellular Neurobiology research unit, in collaboration with a…
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First language wires brain for later language-learning
Research also demonstrates brain’s plasticity and ability to adapt to new language environments You may believe that you have forgotten the Chinese you spoke as a child, but your brain hasn’t. Moreover, that “forgotten” first language may well influence what goes on in your brain when you speak English or French today. In a paper…
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Light therapy effective for depression: UBC study
New research finds that light therapy can treat non-seasonal depression and improve the overall wellbeing of people suffering from the disease. “These results are very exciting because light therapy is inexpensive, easy to access and use, and comes with few side effects,” said Dr. Raymond Lam, a UBC professor and psychiatrist at the Djavad Mowafaghian…
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New Hope for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis
A new study led by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University and the MUHC, gets closer to identifying the mechanisms responsible for multiple sclerosis and makes headway in the search for better treatments. Modern scientific understanding has considered multiple sclerosis (MS) to be a disease controlled by the T cell,…
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What’s behind your thirst?
Discovery advances our understanding of how our brain controls body hydration and temperature Scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and Duke University have made a breakthrough that advances our understanding of how the brain detects and prevents dehydration. They have identified the structure of a key protein located in…