Queen’s researchers Doug Munoz, DJ Cook, Ron Levy, and Steve Scott (Centre for Neuroscience Studies) have received a three-year, $857,062 grant from Brain Canada’s Multi-Investigator Research Initiative with financial support from Health Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund. The project will study how Alzheimer ’s disease affects the brain and to devise new therapeutic strategies for slowing the progression of the disease.

“This project stems from collaboration between our team and Dr. Fernanda De Felice, a leader in the study of Alzheimer’s disease from Rio de Janerio,” explains Dr. Munoz. “Her team has developed a way to create what looks like Alzheimer’s-like pathology in tissue cultures. Our project represents the evolution of this research and brings with it exciting new opportunities for Alzheimer’s research - including the potential for us to test therapeutics that may improve quality of life for patients and slow the progression of the disease.”

The team will use amyloid-beta oligomers – amino acid peptides that are a main component of the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients – to mimic several attributes of the disease and its progression. Their study will also explore using trophic – growth-promoting – molecules and electrical stimulation to promote regrowth and plasticity of affected cells.

“The study proposed by Dr. Munoz and his colleagues at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies has the potential to lead to tremendous breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s,” says Dr. John Fisher, Interim Vice-Principal (Research) at Queen’s University. “As the population demographics continue to shift and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia increases, projects such as this will help us better understand and manage this disease. Queen’s is proud to support field-leading health research, such as this Brain Canada-funded project.”

An estimated quarter of a million Canadians have a diagnosis of dementia – a group of disorders affecting brain function, of which Alzheimer’s is the most common form. The disease leads to a decline in memory, communication, reasoning and emotional control, and has a tremendous impact on patients, families and the health care system as a whole. Dr. Munoz says he is hopeful that the project will lead to the development of new treatments that can alleviate the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s and improve quality of life for patients with the disease.

“If you have an older patient with a brain that is no longer working the way it used to, you won’t be able to reverse it back to the time when that brain was young and healthy,” explains Dr. Munoz. “What we aim to do, on the other hand, is to develop treatments that could allow the brain to work around the disease – alleviating some of the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s for the patient.”

The Brain Canada Multi-Investigator Research Initiative grant supports research that will “fundamentally change our understanding of nervous system function and dysfunction and its impact on health.” The grant aims to encourage and support research that will reduce the social and economic burden of neurological and mental health problems by developing means to prevent disease, diagnose disease earlier or to improve treatment.

The Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen’s is a  leading hub for research and scholarship in all facets of neuroscience.The Centre’s mission includes furthering the understanding of brain organization and function, as well as enhancing societal neurological and mental health, with emphasis upon improving the quality of life for those affected by neurological and psychiatric diseases.