Guidance proteins regulate brain plasticity
January 29, 2013 - Addiction to cigarettes, drugs and other stimulants has been linked in the past to the brain’s frontal lobes, but now there is scientific evidence that indicates where in the frontal cortex addiction takes hold and how. Addiction could be a result of abnormal communication between two areas of the frontal lobes linked to decision-making. The discovery will undoubtedly stimulate clinical work on new therapies for millions of people who suffer from addiction.
January 28, 2013 - The European Commission has officially announced the selection of the Human Brain Project (HBP) as one of its two FET Flagship projects. The new project will federate European efforts to address one of the greatest challenges of modern science: understanding the human brain.
January 28, 2013 - A revolutionary technology has the ability to detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s disease with unprecedented accuracy. The computerized technique known as SNIPE analyzes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to capture patterns of atrophy specific to the disease in brain structures, specifically the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still an inexact science, relying mainly on the patient's symptoms and performance on memory tests. Detecting pre-clinical AD, before symptoms appear, is extremely difficult.
November 27, 2012 - Clinician-scientists take a unique, integrated approach that is essential to advancing science and medicine. Problems encountered in the clinic inspire research and new findings from the labs are directly applied to patients’ needs. The integrated model is a hallmark of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro, at McGill University and the MUHC and is now being replicated worldwide. Two clinician-scientists at The Neuro have been awarded grants today to further research on Parkinson’s disease and HIV/AIDS.
November 21 2012 - Dr. Brenda Milner, pioneer in the field of cognitive neuroscience whose discoveries revolutionized the understanding of memory, is being inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame today. The induction ceremony takes place at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Other inductees are physicist and educator Dr. Ursula Franklin and aviation pioneer J.A.D. McCurdy.
November 8 2012 - After a worldwide search, the renowned Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro – of McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre has a new director, Guy Rouleau, MD, PhD, FRCPC, OQ. Dr. Rouleau, a prominent Quebec clinician-scientist recognized for his contributions to science and society, will also hold the Wilder Penfield Chair in Neuroscience as Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill. The appointment takes effect January 1, 2013.
A cutting-edge neuroscience collaboration between McGill University – through its Brain@McGill network – and the University of Oxford received the McCarthy Tetrault Award of Excellence for Partnership from the Quebec Government Office in London.