Hong Lu (pictured) is a hospital volunteer, avid pianist, neuroscience graduate student, and Vanier scholar. In Dr. Ann Marie Craig’s lab, he is a researcher studying synapse development in neuropsychiatric disorders including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia; in the Purdy Pavilion at UBC Hospital, he connects with long-term care residents on a personal level.
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Investigators led by Dr. Michael Hayden have examined more than 25 years of data to reveal new insights into predicting the age of onset for Huntington disease.
“This discovery may enable us to provide families with additional information,” said lead author Galen Wright, a research associate in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, CMMT and BC Children’s. “It could also potentially improve disease management by providing genetic counsellors with valuable data in the future.”
A new computational tissue model from Dr. Alex Rauscher and his team has enabled the researchers to quantify brain myelin and iron from MRI scans, offering new clues as to the role of myelin and iron in tissue damage and disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS).
Pictured: Dr. Blair Leavitt in his lab at CMMT. Image source: UBC/Faculty of Medicine.
An international clinical trial has found that a new drug for Huntington disease is safe, and that treatment with the drug successfully lowers levels of the abnormal protein that causes the debilitating disease in patients.
Pictured: Dr. Haakon Nygaard shows Charles Fipke the new GE Healthcare SIGNA™
hybrid PET-MRI scanner housed in the Charles E. Fipke Integtrated Neuroimaging Suite at a ribbon-cutting event on April 8, 2019. The GE SIGNA™ is the first scanner of its kind in Canada.
When it comes to the relationship between physical activity and improved executive function (EF), it may not be about the activity itself is as much as it is about how the activity is performed. A 2018 paper by Dr. Adele Diamond and graduate student Daphne S. Ling argued that changing the focus of research into the benefits of physical activity for EFs may produce more meaningful results.
A comprehensive review of existing research has found that any amount of exercise is good, but working out in different ways throughout the week is the best prescription for optimal cognitive and body function. The study, published recently in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, also found a relationship between improved physical health and improved overall brain health. Regular aerobic and resistance training also reduces frailty and its associated hazards in older adults.
As the Gobind Khorana Canada Excellence Research Chair, Dr. Subramaniam will establish and direct an interdisciplinary program based in the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.
Pictured, left to right: Brad Bennett, Prof. Santa Ono, Charles Fipke, Dr. Haakon Nygaard, Dr. Dermot Kelleher, Heather McCaw, and Dr. Jon Stoessl. Image credit: Martin Dee/UBC.
Dr. Julie Robillard, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology and Associate Director, Neuroethics Canada, has been awarded the Dr. Andrew Eisen Leadership Development Award for outstanding leadership and her project, Characterizing the Impact of Respite Care in ALS (CIRCA) project. She accepted the award at the ALS Society of BC Awards Ceremony on April 2.
