Scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University and McGill University Health Centre have shown that a member of the protein family known as SUMO (small ubiquitin-like modifier) is a key to why tumour cells multiply uncontrollably, especially in the case of glioblastoma. The SUMO family proteins modify other proteins and the SUMOylation of proteins are critical for many cellular processes. Identifying SUMO’s role in the cancer cell growth will lead to a new strategy for glioblastoma treatment.
An international team of researchers has discovered a significant genetic component of Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy (IGE), the most common form of epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by sudden, uncontrolled electrical discharges in the brain expressed as a seizure. The new research, published in this week’s issue of EMBO Reports, implicates a mutation in the gene for a protein, known as cotransporter KCC2.

What is ALS?

Dr. Brenda Milner, an active researcher at the age of 95 at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro, McGill University, is a recipient of The 2014 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.

In a new study, published in this week’s issue of the journal Science, researchers show for the first time how the brain re-wires and fine-tunes its connections differently depending on the relative timing of sensory stimuli. In most neuroscience textbooks today, there is a widely held model that explains how nerve circuits might refine their connectivity based on patterned firing of brain cells, but it has not previously been directly observed in real time.

Dr. Guy Rouleau, Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -The Neuro, at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre, is being awarded the Prix d’excellence 2014 by the Collège des médecins du Québec, for his outstanding contributions to neurogenetics and medicine. Dr. Rouleau accepts the award today at a ceremony at the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City.
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