CIHR Projects
Browse 34 CIHR-funded research projects
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PI: Martino, Rosemary; Streiner, David L
Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are common in adult patients. There is emerging evidence that dysphagia itself can cause adverse medical outcomes. There is a three-fold increased risk for pneumonia …
PI: Elliot, Marie A
'Amyloids' are organized aggregations of proteins that are often associated with diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and rheumatoid arthritis. It had long been thought that amyloid formation was …
PI: Ramotar, Dindial
Project summary: Reactive oxygen species are highly unstable molecules and are produced, e.g., by mitochondrial respiration and activated neutrophils. These reactive oxygen species can attack and des…
PI: Timofeev, Igor
Vietnam and Croatia war epidemiological studies demonstrated that in penetrating cortical wounds (cortical trauma) would cause acute seizures in up to 80% of patients and 50% of them will develop epi…
Successful treatment of neurodegenerative disease must involve therapy designed not only to limit the extent of brain cell destruction but also to stimulate repopulation of damaged tissue. Cell-repla…
Lipids play important roles in all cells. They are different than many other biological molecules in that they are like oils and do not mix in the aqueous environment of cells. In this way they can f…
PI: Parker, Alex J
As we live longer than ever before the World Health Organization predicts that neurodegenerative diseases like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases will s…
In Alzheimer's disease (AD), a loss of brain cells in key brain areas is linked to memory and cognitive deficits observed in this condition. The deposition of amyloid-beta protein in the brain is a p…
Mutations in the superoxide dismutase (SOD1) gene are responsible for ~20% familial ALS. This corresponds to only ~2% ALS cases. For the vast majority of ALS cases which are sporadic, the causes rema…
PI: Prado, Marco A
Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSEs) are characterized by protein aggregation and neuronal degeneration. They affect diverse mammals including bovines (bovine spongiform e…
PI: Yong, Voon W
Many factors contribute to the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) including the expression of a family of proteins called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Many MMPs are upregulated in MS lesions…
The discovery that possesion of apolipoprotein E4 is the only risk factor that is consistently found associated with the most common, non-familial form of Alzheimer's disease (AD) led us to focus on …
During the development of the nervous system 50% of the neurons that are generated die because their nerve fibers have failed to make correct connections that supply nerve growth factor (NGF) or a si…
PI: Corneil, Brian D
Humans and other primates are predominantly visual animals. Our dependency on vision necessitated the development of a refined oculomotor system to rapidly change our line of sight (gaze shifts). Lar…
PI: Bedell, Barry J
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is known to affect the blood vessels in the brain. Growing evidence points to the fact that abnormalities of the blood vessels play a major role in the development and progre…
PI: Kriz, Jasna
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in industrialized countries. Unfortunately, at present, the clinical treatments remain poorly effective. There is increasing evidence that inflammation play…
The human central nervous system (CNS) is comprised of cells of two major classes, neurons and glial cells. Interactions between them are vital for the CNS to develop and function properly, but littl…
PI: Holt, Andrew
Inhibiting the monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) enzyme in the human brain enhances availability of several neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. As a result, MAO-B inhibition is effective in slowing the …
Epilepsy affects about 1% of the general population. In many of these patients, seizures cannot be controlled despite the best possible medication. The most common form of such medically intractable …
Drug-induced parkinsonism, featuring resting tremor, motor slowing, and body stiffness, remains an unacceptable and frequent complication in about one third of patients treated for schizophrenia with…
PI: Colman, Ian R
In spite of the frequency and severity of depression, controversy remains over the appropriate use of antidepressants as treatment. Part of the confusion stems from the fact that randomized controlle…
PI: David, Samuel
Injury to the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord results in permanent functional loss of because of the inability of the CNS nerve cells to regenerate. CNS injurie…
This application addresses one disability of people with spinal cord injuries and diseases: the inability to walk. The spinal cord of mammals (including humans) contains a network of nerve cells whic…
PI: Ekker, Marc
We are using the zebrafish to understand the function of genes that are associated with early onset Parkinson's disease in humans. Zebrafish have counterparts of these genes and offer several advanta…
The BeAMS Study. Long-term Benefits and Adverse Effects of Beta-interferon for Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a relatively common disease of the brain and spinal cord, leading to disability, severe fatigue, and coordination problems; its cause is unknown. Canada has some of the wor…
PI: Park, David S
Parkinsons disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of specialized brain cells which produce the brain molecule dopamine. Loss of these cells results in impaired move…
PI: Carrier, Julie
The current overwhelming evidence that aging is associated with a significant increase in sleep-wake cycle complaints has important individual, social and economical consequences. Multiple factors, i…
PI: Shaw, Gary S
Many important biological processes are controlled by calcium. For example, the transmission of nerve impulses, control of vision and stimulation allowing the heart to beat can not occur without calc…
PI: Ansari, Daniel
Most of us deal with numbers efficiently, oftentimes without being aware of it. A good example is reading a newspaper article. In the process of doing so, you will encounter several pieces of numeric…
PI: Poirier, Judes
This renewal proposal seeks to further characterize the molecular mechanisms involved in the loss of specific brain cells in common Alzheimer's disease (AD). Over the recent years, our laboratory has…
PI: Lam, Tania
Although many people who had a stroke can get better and walk again, there are still problems with walking that limit their ability to fully take part in many daily activities. Up to now, stroke rese…
Administrative claims data are rich and provide information to study how drugs are used in the real-world, and thus also provide real-world drug safety and effectiveness data. We outline two pilot pr…
Immune responses and regulation in hepatitis C virus infection: Implications for immunotherapy
PI: Agrawal, Babita
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), leads to serious and permanent liver damage. Late stage disease due to HCV is the leading cause of liver transplantation in North America. The disease afflicts 175 million pe…
The threat posed by the emergence of the highly pathogenic strain of influenza A has been met with an abundance of preemptive scientific research to prepare for a pandemic. However, it is equally imp…