Mutations in a gene involved in brain development have led to the discovery of two new neurodevelopmental diseases by an international team led by researchers at McGill University and CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center.

The first clues about the rare disorder arose after doctors were unable to diagnose why two siblings from Québec City were experiencing seizures and neurodevelopmental deficits. Desperate, the children’s family turned to Carl Ernst at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal for answers.

Classified as: McGill University, health and lifestyle, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, neurodevelopmental diseases, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Carl Ernst, Philippe Campeau, brain development
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Published on: 25 Apr 2019

In a study published in Stem Cell Reports, a McGill University team of scientists led by Dr. Carl Ernst, researcher at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre, revealed a molecular mechanism that may play a role in the development of autism.

By taking skin cells from patients and reprogramming those cells to become brain cells through genetic engineering, Dr. Ernst, graduate student Scott Bell, and Edward A. Fon and Thomas M. Durcan, colleagues at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, tracked how a brain cell with the patient’s own mutation develops improperly.

Classified as: GRIN2B, autism, Carl Ernst, health and lifestyle
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Published on: 26 Jun 2018

McGill is proud to announce that six new Canada Research Chairs have been awarded and nine chairs have been renewed, bringing a total of over $15 million to the university for research in fields ranging from social inequalities in child health to experimental optomechanics over the next five to seven years.

Classified as: Research, Jody Heymann, Carl Ernst, amir shmuel, belinda nicolau, canada research chair, ernest seidman, ernesto schiffrin, frank j. elgar, jack sankey, joaquin madrenas, mindy levin, nikolas provatas, ronald niezen, roussos dimitrakopoulos, timothy geary, wissam musallam
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Published on: 12 Oct 2012

Rare genetic mutation linked to psychiatric illnesses, obesity 

B Charlie Fidelman, GAZETTE Health Reporter October 8, 2012 

MONTREAL — Grounding chronic illnesses and mental disorders in human DNA is like trying to tease out a giant riddle that’s complicated by the intricate relationship between biology and behaviour. Hundreds of genes have been associated with psychiatric conditions, some erroneously, and they were not confirmed.

Classified as: genetics, Research, Carl Ernst, obesity, epigenetics, psychiatric illness
Published on: 11 Oct 2012

McGill researchers have identified a small region in the genome that conclusively plays a role in the development of psychiatric disease and obesity. The key lies in the genomic deletion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, a nervous system growth factor that plays a critical role in brain development.

Classified as: medicine, Research, mutation, Carl Ernst, disease, obesity, psychiatric
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Published on: 10 Oct 2012
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