CIHR Projects
Browse 4616 CIHR-funded research projects
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Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a non-invasive, ground-breaking technique suggested for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). When combined with ultrasound contrast agents (termed 'microbubbles') th…
PI: Henderson, Joanna L; Woodward, Graham L; Barbic, Skye P; Chiodo, Debbie G; Jackson, Fatimah Z; Linklater, Renee
Mental health and substance use problems often emerge during adolescence and young adulthood and can have negative short- and long-term health, education, social and economic impacts. Despite this, y…
PI: Whiting, Sharon E; Andrade, Andrea V; Courtney, Kimberly L; Healy, Sarah; Mitsakakis, Nikolaos; Nabavi Nouri, Maryam; PEREZ, JUAN ENRIQUE T
Adolescents with epilepsy experience a significant disruption in care when transitioning from pediatric to adult care; a disruption associated with decreased health outcomes, mental health, and quali…
PI: Mazurka, Raegan
Improved access to and delivery of quality mental health care in primary care is a key priority for Nova Scotia Health (NSH). This includes the treatment of depression. Depression is a common health …
PI: Morin, Charles M; Roberts, Karen C; Carney, Colleen; Chaput, Jean-Philippe; Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh; Robillard, RĂ©becca
The overarching goal of the Coordination and KM Centre (CKMC) is to develop a pan-Canadian hub for facilitating and strengthening the coordination, sharing and use of evidence-based knowledge on inso…
PI: Conrod, Patricia; Bourque, Josiane; Leyton, Marco; Potvin, Stéphane; Watts, Jeremy J
Cannabis is one of the most widely used psychoactive drugs in Canada. Although it is considered a relatively safe substance, the associated increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes, including…
PI: Sylvestre, Marie-Pierre; O'Loughlin, Jennifer L
Since non-medical cannabis use was legalized in Canada in 2018, prime working-age adults report the largest increase in the prevalence of cannabis use compared to other age groups. Also, limited evid…
PI: Castellanos Ryan, Natalie; Chadi, Nicholas
One in three Canadian youth (15-24 years) used cannabis in 2020. Early or heavy cannabis use (CU) has been linked to poorer brain functioning, which can persist beyond acute cannabis intoxication. In…
PI: Robillard, RĂ©becca; Shlik, Jakov
The most common motives of use of cannabis for medical purposes include PTSD, a condition that is overrepresented in veterans. Studies on cannabis and its effects have been highly inconsistent and me…
PI: Lloyd, Stephanie
Cochlear implants (CIs) are considered to be one of the first true bionic devices and are described as able to repair a "sensory deficit" by (re)creating hearing. Over the past two decades, CIs have …
Exposure to traumatic events can result in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a common, serious, and complex mental health condition. Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has bee…
One in four Canadians over the age of 15 suffer from chronic pain, a rate that jumps to one in three in Canadians over the age of 65. Understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in the transition …
PI: Bowie, Derek
Fragile-X syndrome (FXS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is the most common single- gene cause of autism and inherited intellectual disability. In Canada, it affects 1 in 4,000 boys and 1 in 6,…
Single-subject predictors of autism spectrum disorder via next-generation machine learning models
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a set of neurodevelopmental disorders marked by stereotyped behaviours and impairments in social interaction with lifelong impacts. Its complex etiology and h…
PI: Hatcher, Simon
The aim of this project is to investigate whether public safety personnel who provide peer support to their colleagues are affected by hearing traumatic stories from their colleagues. We will ask pee…
PI: Pfeffer, Gerald; Basak, Nazli; Elinav, Eran
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurologic disease in which patients gradually lose the use of their muscles. This causes problems with mobility, self-care, speech, swallowing and breathing.…
PI: Mota, Natalie; Logsetty, Sarvesh
People working as public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., firefighters, paramedics, police, corrections officers) experience many traumatic events on the job. As a result, posttraumatic stress injuries (…
PI: Nguyen, Dang K; Chasse, Michael; Gallagher, Anne; Lesage, Frédéric
Patients with significant brain insults (ex. hemorrhage, infection) are admitted to the intensive care unit for close monitoring. As such, electrodes are often glued to their head for continuous surv…
PI: LeVan, Pierre
Approximately 80,000 Canadians suffer from epilepsy with uncontrolled seizures that medication is unable to prevent. Their best chance at attaining seizure freedom is the identification and surgical …
PI: LanctĂ´t, Krista L; Gallagher, Damien; Herrmann, Nathan
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behaviour. Currently, drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors are used in AD, however benefits are modest…
PI: Zrenner, Brigitte; Blumberger, Daniel M; Griffiths, John D; Zrenner, Christoph D
The goal of this project is to determine whether a new kind of non-invasive brain stimulation therapy with trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is effective in the treatment of obsessive-compulsi…
Family Matters: Engaging Loved Ones to Prevent Overdose Deaths in Semi-Urban and Rural Communities
PI: Salmon, Amy L; Hawkins, Jennifer
In the context of the current fentanyl poisoning crisis, people who use drugs (PWUD) have been urged to avoid using drugs alone due to increased risk of death associated with unwitnessed overdose (OD…
PI: Blain-Moraes, Stefanie; Duclos, Catherine
Advances in life-saving medical technology have dramatically increased survival rates amongst those in industrialized countries that sustain a severe brain injury. These individuals typically require…
PI: Dason, Jeffrey S
Millions of people will be affected by pain during their lifetime. These debilitating conditions can be triggered by injury, various diseases, or side effects of drugs. Nociception is a process in wh…
PI: Wheeler, Anne L
Concussion, anxiety, and depression are all very common in teenagers. In general, about one-quarter of teenagers that have a concussion will experience long-lasting symptoms, including headaches and …
Chronic pain is a highly prevalent and debilitating condition afflicting one in five Canadians. Opioids, our current first line of defense against pain, are not viable strategies in treating chronic …
From episodic memory to functioning in schizophrenia and related psychoses: A neurocognitive model
PI: Lepage, Martin; Guimond, Synthia; Menon, Mahesh; Woodward, Todd S
Memory impairments are common in people with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, particularly in terms of remembering everyday events. Difficulty in this area is related to poorer clinical…
PI: Kania, Artur
The deliberate and precise movements of a watchmaker's fingers when repairing a tiny timepiece are examples of conscious control that our brain exerts over our muscles and joints. In contrast, during…
PI: Zariffa, José; Genov, Roman
There is a significant need for assistive technologies that can restore movement to individuals paralyzed after spinal cord injury. Implanted functional electrical stimulation (FES) systems use elect…
PI: Niechwiej-Szwedo, Ewa; Gao, Xiaoqing; Lin, Haotian; Maurer, Daphne; Shore, David I; Thompson, Benjamin; Wong, Agnes
Babies born with cataracts face a life-long struggle. Although the cataracts that block vision in one or both eyes are removed within the first year of life, the rapidly developing brain misses impor…
PI: Choe, Katrina Y
Difficulties in social interactions is a core behavioural symptom of autism spectrum disorder(ASD). Over the last decade, many ASD-linked gene mutations have been identified; however, how these gene …
PI: Bains, Jaideep S
Stress has many consequences for the individual and society at large. It affects our emotional state, alters decision making, changes how we interact with others and sows the seeds for potential phys…
PI: Dancause, Numa
After stroke, many patients have problems using their hand. Despite advances, rehabilitation is often only partially effective. One promising approach to augment recovery is to use electrodes implant…
Epilepsy affects 1% of the population and often starts in childhood. Children with epilepsy suffer from repetitive, unprovoked epileptic seizures and longstanding epilepsy often prevents normal devel…
PI: Brandon, Mark P
Although decades of investigations have pinpointed the function of the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus in supporting memory, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying specific cognitive functio…
PI: Goldowitz, Daniel; Pavlidis, Paul
Pax6 is a key gene in the development of many regions of the brain. When it is mutated it causes a diverse set of abnormalities that include the absence of an iris and autism. To understand how Pax6 …
Rewards play a critical role in shaping behaviors and learning, including motor learning and re-learning after stroke. The motor cortex is the main command center for skilled voluntary forelimb movem…
PI: Araya, Roberto
The fundamental operation of any neuron is to integrate synaptic inputs in order to decide when to fire an action potential. However, how neurons integrate thousands of inputs in order to make this d…
Depression is common and disabling, and typically first occurs in adolescence. Once a person has had one episode of depression, they are at increased risk for subsequent episodes, and often have a po…
Neurological disorders are a major contributor to disability worldwide. Their enormous socioeconomic impact continues to grow as the population ages. To date, neurological disorders have no cure, onl…
PI: Bains, Jaideep S
Stress is unavoidable, and if left unchecked can lead to various stress-related disorders, including anxiety disorders and depression. The current pandemic has seen a dramatic increase in stress-rela…
PI: Sonenberg, Nahum
Long-term memory can be enhanced by suppressing the evolutionary conserved intracellular signaling pathway, Integrated Stress Response (ISR). The ISR allows cells to cope with distinct cellular stres…
PI: Werb, Daniel M
Canada has the world's most rapidly accelerating overdose epidemic, with per capita mortality opioid overdose mortality increasing by 117% since 2016. Toronto is North America's fourth-largest city a…
PI: Dumais, Alexandre; Potvin, Stéphane
Psychotic disorders (PD) are characterized by a loss of contact with reality. In Canada, their annual economic burden is at least 10 billion dollars. Cannabis use is one of the key factors leading to…
Culturally adapted psychosocial interventions for early psychosis in a low-resource setting: RCT
Most mental health problems begin before the age of 24 and effective treatments may prevent life-long distress and disability. In low and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Pakistan, 90% of young p…
PI: Panenka, William J; Field, Thalia S; Thornton, Allen E; Wellington, Cheryl L
Background: Social inequality in North America is at its highest documented level of the past century. Emerging from our recent work in homeless and vulnerable housed persons is the powerful contribu…
PI: Kurata, Harley T
Epilepsy is a common and debilitating neurological condition, characterized by frequent seizures due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Although many drugs are available for epilepsy manag…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of neurological disability, other than trauma, in young adults. Approximately 100,000 Canadians, and over two million people worldwide have MS. Canada…
PI: Wong, Tak Pan
Depression is a stress-related mood disorder that affects 300 million people worldwide. Considering that up to 30% of depressed patients are resistant to current treatments, the development of more e…
PI: Turkstra, Lyn
We now know that up to 40% of adults with COVID are still having cognitive problems months later, including "brain fog", mental fatigue, memory impairments, and difficulty with everyday tasks like fo…