CQDM

NATHAN YOGANATHAN

Developing new Alzheimer’s therapeutics using novel blood brain barrier carrier technology

  Competition: Focus on Brain 2014 Funding: $2,413,133 / 3 years Beginning: May 2015 Challenge: Of the top 10 most fatal illnesses in the world, Alzheimer’s disease is the only one for which there is currently no disease-modifying therapy available. Alzheimer’s disease becomes progressively more prevalent as people age, rising from over 11% of the population 65 and older to … Read More

Monday September 10th, 2018

*JANUSZ PAWLISZYN

In-vivo Solid Phase Microextraction Integrated with Mass Spectrometry Platform for Untargeted and Targeted Investigation of the Brain

Challenge: One of the major challenges currently faced by the pharmaceutical industry is the development of alternative approaches that allow the gathering of maximum information using a minimum number of animals. With regard to analytical instruments, mass spectrometers offer increasingly sensitive and quantitative determination of biological molecules. However, collected biological samples, especially tissues, require efficient sample preparation prior to mass … Read More

DON VAN MEYEL

Cyto-iGluSnFR: A glutamate biosensor platform for brain diseases

  Competition: Focus on Brain 2014 Funding: $1,416,375 / 3 years Beginning: May 2015 Challenge: In the human brain and retina, the chemical glutamate is a very important messenger that carries information from one neuron to another. The levels of glutamate transmitted between neurons must be tightly controlled: too high and neurons die, too low and information is not communicated … Read More

ROB HUTCHINSON

A Blood-Brain Barrier Carrier Platform for Delivery of Multiple Classes of Therapeutics for Treating CNS Diseases

  Competition: Focus on Brain 2014 Funding: $2,573,875 / 3 years Beginning: May 2015 Challenge: The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a tightly woven layer of vascular cells in the brain that prevents harmful molecules from the circulation, viruses and toxins, from entering the brain. To allow entry of nutrients into the brain, the BBB employs molecular transporters that shuttle nutrients … Read More

JEAN-PAUL SOUCY

Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease in the Prodromal Stage from Non-Invasive Hyperspectral Retinal Images

Challenge: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects millions of people worldwide, causing an irreversible and debilitating loss of neuro-cognitive functions, with no cure currently available. At the moment, AD diagnosis can be confirmed post-mortem or through complex in vivo imaging approaches (Positron Emission Tomography or PET scanner) by observing two AD hallmarks in the brain, the deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and … Read More

*ELIZABETH SIMPSON

Targeting the Right Cells: Human MiniPromoters for Restricted Gene Expression in Specific Cells of the Eyes

Challenge: Diseases of the eye, sometimes leading to blindness represent an enormous burden in terms of human suffering and economic cost. New gene therapies where promoters act as switches to modulate gene expression could offer cures, but such expression is difficult to target to the appropriate diseased cells. Due to their size, complexity and regulation, endogenous promoters can rarely be … Read More

EDWARD FON

Inducible human pluripotent stem cells to better understand and treat Parkinson’s disease and ALS

  Competition: Focus on Brain 2015 Funding: $1,480,000 / 3 years Beginning: November 2016 Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) are two of the most common and devastating neurodegenerative diseases, affecting one in 50 Canadians over 65 years old. With Canada’s aging population, and without any current efficacious treatments for these diseases, it is imperative to develop new … Read More

JEAN MARTIN BEAULIEU

ShARP: Screenable Assays for RNA-Binding Proteins Involved in Brain Disorders

Challenge: Brain disorders such as autism, major depressive disorder and Alzheimer’s disease are among the greatest medical challenges of our era. Many drugs targeting the central nervous system (CNS) have been developed to modulate G-protein coupled receptors, ion channels, or transporters with mitigated success. There remains a shortage of disease-relevant targets that can be harnessed for drug discovery to treat … Read More

Friday September 7th, 2018