McMaster scientists add expertise to brain research
McMaster scientists are providing their expertise to new cutting-edge research projects
announced this week by the Ontario Brain Institute.
Its first three research projects aim to discover new therapies and technologies that will
significantly improve the quality of life for affected children and their families in
Ontario and around the world.
Peter Szatmari, professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural
neurosciences and director of the Offord Centre for Child Studies, will work with
researchers from Torontos Hospital for Sick Children and Holland Bloorview Kids
Rehabilitation Hospital on the POND (Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Network) study.
The POND project will study neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum
disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorders and
intellectual disability.
The project will create the first Canadian clinical trials network specializing in childhood
neurodevelopmental disorders, develop a large clinical database of children with these
disorders and develop models to better understand these diseases.
Szatmari is a world expert on autism whose investigative interests fall broadly into areas
of psychiatric and genetic epidemiology.
Gabriel Ronen, professor of pediatrics and Michelle Shapiro, assistant professor of
neurology in the Department of Medicine, both of the Michael G. DeGroote School of
Medicine, will participate in The Epilepsy Discovery Project.
This comprehensive study will work with companies and patient groups to improve the
diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy through innovative therapies. These include drug
and gene-related therapies, non-pharmacological interventions such as enhanced
physical activity and optimizing medical diet, surgery and deep brain stimulation.
Approximately 76,000 Ontarians are affected by epilepsy, along with 50 million people
worldwide.
The third research project, called CP-Net, will focus on personalized treatments for
cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability in children,
with one in 300 people suffering from it. In hemiplegic CP one side of the brain is
injured, during or shortly after birth. Children with hemiplegia often have difficulty
walking and/or using their hands and arms.
Jan Willem Gorter, Ronit Mesterman and Peter Rosenbaum at McMasters CanChild
Centre for Childhood Disability Research as well as McMaster Childrens Hospital will be
part of CP-Net. They will work to develop personalized treatments and early
interventions that will lead to improved quality of life for those with CP.
Leading-edge rehabilitation technologies will be used, such as novel movement therapy
during a two-week summer camp at the Childrens Developmental Rehabilitation
Program which helps children strengthen weak arms. New brain imaging techniques will
help to discover how the brain works in children with CP and what happens in the brain
after therapy.
CanChild will translate the new knowledge from this project so it can be shared broadly
with those who need it most, to support and empower families and to increase the skills
and competencies of rehabilitation professionals.
Along with supporting more than 80 research positions, the three new projects will also
provide training to medical and academic professionals while resulting in economic
opportunities through the commercialization of discoveries.
Donald T. Stuss, president and scientific director of the Ontario Brain Institute, said this
pooling of researchers, clinicians, companies and patients from different institutions
and disciplines across Ontario is laying the foundation for the transformation of
Ontarios neuroscience capabilities in research, treatment and commercialization.
The institute was created by the Ontario government in 2010 with the goal of bringing
together the provinces top brain researchers and business experts who can turn their
discoveries into products and services for sufferers of cerebral palsy, autism and
epilepsy.
