Principal Investigator
Jocelyn Faubert
Université de Montréal
Co-investigators
Brian Christie
University of Victoria
Jodie Gawlyruk
University of Victoria
Project of $2 191 628 over 3 years
- Supported by CQDM through:
Ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie du Québec (MEIE) - And by a co-funding partner:
- Fondation Brain Canada
- NeuroTracker
Challenge
Emerging evidence suggests that concussions (a type of mild traumatic brain injury; mTBIs) may cause chronic neurological disturbances with effects lasting beyond 20 years, changing brain structure and nearly doubling the risks of developing dementia into old age. Yet diagnoses remain notoriously difficult, gender differences are poorly understood, and negligible therapies exist to manage and treat these long-term effects.
Solution
This project proposes using a combination of NeuroTracker (a promising software-based cognitive assessment and intervention for mild TBIs), with the latest MRI techniques and blood-based biomarkers of brain function, to provide unprecedented assessment sensitivity of long-term concussion effects, comparing older male and female adults, with and without a history of concussion. Additionally, NeuroTracker will be used as a therapeutic intervention to improve outcomes in adults with histories of concussion, with the combined assessments measuring efficacy pre-post training. This project aims to comprehensively understand the impacts of mild brain traumas into later life, via both physical and functional biomarkers of brain health. It will also validate the value of NeuroTracker as an accessible training intervention for recovering cognitive functions impacted by earlier-life concussions.
Achievements/Impact
The project, in collaboration with Québec-based NeuroTracker, will position the laboratories of Prof. Faubert (Université de Montréal, Quebec), Prof. Christie and Prof. Gawryluk (University of Victoria. British Columbia) as frontier research institutes, facilitating access to further exploratory research funding in this domain and other neurodegenerative conditions. For NeuroTracker, it will pave the way towards regulatory approval and accelerate commercial growth in the medical sector as an innovative and scientifically credible digital therapeutic. It will highlight the value of the co-funders role in supporting the validation of a novel and highly accessible cognitive platform with significant potential to improve brain health and quality of life in aging. Finally, the project will position the province of Quebec as an innovator in the digital healthcare space, developing a global digital therapeutic neurotechnology that can enhance existing life science technologies as well as de-risk or provide meaningful collated real-time data to big pharma validating efficacy and cognitive measurements when validating NDI findings in the Phase 1 and 2 clinical phases of a drug study.
