UNews - Robert McDonald

Neuroscience pioneer Dr. Robert McDonald earns ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Speaker Research Award

trevor.kenney — Wed, 07 May 2025 17:57:11 +0000

A trailblazer in behavioural neuroscience, Dr. Robert McDonald (BSc '89) is internationally recognized for his pioneering research into memory systems, neuroplasticity and Alzheimer’s disease, and has been named the 2025 winner of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Speaker Research Award.

“The Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience has gained its reputation as a world-leading neuroscience hub because of researchers such as Dr. McDonald,” says Dr. Dena McMartin, ULethbridge vice-president (research). “His work does not build off others’ previous work rather he changed the way the neuroscience world approached the study of learning and memory. An exceptional teacher, Dr. McDonald’s contribution to his field have led to significant advances in the study of Alzhemier’s, aging and psychiatric disorders. His positive influence on public health and some of today’s most pressing health issues make him a very deserving recipient of the Speaker Research Award.”

Dr. Robert McDonald is internationally recognized for his work on memory systems, neuroplasticity and Alzheimer's disease.

The Speaker Research Award recognizes the importance of research, scholarship and performance to the philosophy and goals of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

McDonald will be presented with the Speaker Research Award at Spring 2025 Convocation, Ceremony I, on Thursday, May 29, 2023, at 9 a.m. in the Centre for Sport and Wellness gymnasium.

Dr. Robert McDonald

Professor Dr. Robert McDonald is a world-renowned neuroscientist whose research has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of learning and memory. Since joining the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2004, he has developed a program of research that advances scientific theory and contributes directly to clinical applications in neurodegenerative diseases, mental health and cognitive disorders.

McDonald’s early work provided groundbreaking evidence that memory is not a unitary process but consists of multiple interacting systems. His seminal 1993 paper on triple dissociations in memory systems continues to be widely cited and has served as a cornerstone for subsequent research in behavioural neuroscience. By designing experiments that isolated specific memory processes and mapped them to neural circuits, McDonald helped establish a systems-based framework for understanding cognition. This approach, once considered outside the mainstream, has now become a central paradigm in the field.

Through more than three decades of continuous research funding — including prestigious grants from NSERC, CIHR and the Alzheimer Society of Canada — McDonald has led a highly productive lab investigating the biological foundations of memory, the effects of neurodevelopmental stressors, and novel models of Alzheimer’s disease. His recent work includes translational research on the sporadic form of Alzheimer’s, exploring how circadian disruption, the gut microbiome and early cannabinoid exposure affect cognitive health.

McDonald’s program is defined by its significant scientific impact and integrative, collaborative nature. His lab has worked alongside experts in biochemistry, imaging, genetics and computational neuroscience to test innovative hypotheses. He has co-authored more than 150 publications — several in high-impact journals — and has been invited to present at international conferences and contribute to leading academic journals. His influence also extends to clinical and public health circles, where his work has shaped thinking on Alzheimer’s, aging and psychiatric disorders.

Equity, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of McDonald’s research and mentoring philosophy. Over his career, he has trained nearly 200 students, many from underrepresented groups, and has created an inclusive lab environment with flexible supports tailored to individual needs. Numerous trainees have gone on to successful careers in academia, medicine and industry, including at institutions such as McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary and Washington ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in St. Louis.

McDonald is also an exceptional teacher and campus citizen. He regularly teaches foundational courses in behavioural neuroscience and has served on departmental and national committees, including CIHR and NSERC grant panels. His contributions have brought significant distinction to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and have solidified its reputation as a leader in neuroscience research. His commitment to excellence, mentorship and advancing human knowledge makes him a most deserving recipient of the Speaker Research Medal.

U of L researchers net $1.8 million to help solve the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease

caroline.zentner — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 18:05:03 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers are looking at the potential for cannabis compounds to treat or even prevent Alzheimer’s disease, as well as to track and possibly stop abnormal proteins from spreading damage in the brain with $1.8 million in funding grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Dr. Robert McDonald and his team at the U of L’s Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), will use preclinical animal models to investigate marijuana compounds as potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

“There’s preliminary work in the field that’s emerged just recently, particularly in animal models, suggesting that cannabis compounds can reverse brain pathology and cognitive impairments,” says McDonald. “We’re really interested in trying to prevent that descent into neurodegeneration and dementia because once the brain has changed, it’s very hard to bring it back. If we can prevent or prolong that descent into dementia, that’s really the goal.”

In the other project, Dr. Robert Sutherland and his team at the CCBN will use an animal model to look more closely at two misfolded proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease — amyloid beta and tau. They will be digging into how these two proteins may spread in the brain and how the spread coincides with memory loss and decreased cognitive function, as well as trying to block the spread.

“We want to understand the basic biological mechanisms that push the disease forward in the brain,” says Sutherland. “Ultimately, we hope this kind of research will lead us to a cure, the same way vaccinations got rid of smallpox or polio, and that we’ll be able to come up with a way of absolutely preventing and stopping it. That’s my long-term goal.”

Cannabis and Alzheimer’s disease

As baby boomers age, Canada could be facing a health care crisis. Alzheimer’s disease currently affects about 500,000 people in Canada but that number is expected to increase to almost 940,000 by 2031. The costs, in terms of reduced quality of life, the burden on caregivers and financial expenses, will balloon.

“The treatments that have been developed so far are few, they’re not particularly effective and they ultimately do not prevent the descent into dementia,” says McDonald. “The treatment approach we’re investigating is exciting because cannabis compounds appear to target several pathologies that are found in Alzheimer’s disease and these compounds are available, inexpensive and relatively safe for human consumption. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg of understanding the cannabinoids, how complex they are, and what effects they may have on the brain and the body.”

McDonald adds that, while cannabis compounds are showing promise, it doesn’t mean every older adult should start using cannabis. Much work needs to be done to determine the correct combination of compounds, the doses required, the length of treatment and who the treatment might be appropriate for. As part of their research, they will also examine sex differences because the brain changes that come with Alzheimer’s disease differ between females and males.

“We have an incredible research team, including Drs. Rob Sutherland and Majid Mohajerani and my long-term collaborator Nhung Hong, that’s extensively involved in this work,” says McDonald. “Dr. Igor Kovalchuk is our cannabinoid expert so we’re working on combinations and cocktails with him. I have an incredible grad student, Abigail Nixon, who’s been working night and day this year trying to get preliminary data to support this work. And there’s this amazing crew of undergrads over the year who have been doing independent studies to help collect this preliminary data as well.”

Misfolded proteins and Alzheimer’s disease

Sutherland, along with the CCBN’s Dr. Majid Mohajerani and Dr. David Westaway at the Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, will be injecting mice with abnormal proteins and observing how they spread through the brain.

“We’re mainly looking at the cortex, since that’s where lots of memory and cognitive activity takes place,” says Sutherland. “We can measure how the brain activity changes as these abnormal proteins creep into circuits in the cortex. We’ll periodically assess the animal’s memory ability to see the moment when memory breaks down in these animals and what’s exactly happening in the cortex when that breakdown occurs.”

Once the researchers have developed a careful description of how the spread occurs through the brain and how cognition is affected, they plan to test different ways to block the spread. They may be able to block the spread by modifying microglial cells. These cells are a front-line defense when things go wrong and they work to break down abnormal proteins like amyloid beta and tau. But when the abnormal proteins increase, these cells become overwhelmed and, instead of destroying the bad proteins, spit them back out in a different location. The researchers want to determine if the cells may be contributing to the spread of the bad proteins, and, if that’s the case, then reducing their activity might help prevent spreading. They also plan to test whether increasing or decreasing activity in select nerve fibres will affect the spreading of the abnormal proteins.

“We can absolutely decide whether increasing or decreasing activity in the part of the brain that produces new memories causes more spread or reduces the spread,” says Sutherland. “Most people would predict that increasing brain activity would decrease spread and we’re going to find out whether that’s really true.”

Sutherland credits Campus Alberta Neuroscience for helping to build a strong network of researchers in the province dedicated to aging and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, the Alzheimer’s Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories has invested in research being done by the network.

“That is now really paying off, in terms of the number of CIHR grants directed toward brain aging and dementia,” says Sutherland. “I don’t think we would have been able to get those grants without that catalyst funding from the Alzheimer’s Society. We owe them a big debt. The Alzheimer Society’s funding comes from lots of small donations. It’s not a big wealthy group; it’s just ordinary people giving a few dollars.”

U of L neuroscientists awarded nearly $2 million for research into Alzheimer's disease

caroline.zentner — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 22:20:23 +0000

Drs. Bruce McNaughton and Majid Mohajerani will investigate brain neurobiology related to Alzheimer’s disease thanks to two grants worth nearly $2 million over five years from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

Dr. Bruce McNaughton

“We are extremely pleased about the success of the applications for these two research projects,” says Dr. Erasmus Okine, vice-president (research) at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. “The number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to triple by 2050 and the costs of care will skyrocket. More than ever, we need to conduct research that will identify the mechanisms at work in Alzheimer’s disease to allow for the development of effective treatments.”

McNaughton, along with Mohajerani, Drs. Robert Sutherland and Boyer Winters (��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph), received more than $1.2 million to help determine the neural basis of cognitive reserve (CR), the main source of resilience against dementia and normal age-related cognitive decline. In humans, behavioural evidence indicates that CR is related to how much knowledge a person acquires over his or her lifespan. People who are bilingual and have a higher education status, school grades, occupational achievement and vocabulary show fewer symptoms of dementia. But the link between enhanced knowledge and CR needs to be experimentally established and the underlying neural mechanisms need to be determined.

In the mouse model, cognitive reserve is created by exposing mice to enriched environments where they can play, socialize and learn. The researchers will use state-of-the-art imaging technology to measure brain activity at rest and during encoding and retrieval of information, and the ways new and old memories interact in the brain. The measures will be correlated with measures of CR, age and the amount of amyloid deposits, or plaque, in the brain.

“We expect new and unanticipated insights into how the brain creates CR. This will help us establish a basis for comparison with abnormal brain dynamics that may be associated with normal aging and age-related dementia,” says Sutherland. “We’re taking this project forward in other awards in the direction of applying the same neuroscience information to aging humans in collaboration with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California Irvine and the U of L.”

In the other project, Mohajerani, along with Dr. Robert McDonald and McNaughton, received nearly $700,000 to probe the link between amyloid deposits in the brain and functional alterations of specific brain networks.

Dr. Majid Mohajerani

Amyloid deposits, made up of amyloid beta peptide, are plaques that form between brain cells and are a feature of Alzheimer’s disease, as is the presence of tangles, made up of tau proteins that form inside brain cells.

“Using a second generation of a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, we intend to determine how early and in what part of the brain the amyloid beta plaques form,” says Mohajerani. “We don’t know in full detail the temporal dynamics and spatial distribution of amyloid plaque formations and how they contribute to neuronal activity and network dysfunction and behavioural and cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease.”

The first symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in humans are spatial navigation deficits and disorientation. Mohajerani wants to focus on brain neurons that serve as the brain’s compass or navigation system and examine how the formation of amyloid plaques affects those neurons. Preliminary data shows that neurons located next to plaques become either hyperactive or hypoactive. Previous research using functional MRI studies have shown that brain network activity in humans becomes altered 25 years before any cognitive symptoms, such as memory loss, are evident.

“We are very privileged to become one of the centres in Canada to investigate how formation of amyloid beta plaques leads to brain cell death and subsequently to dementia,” says Mohajerani. “An Alzheimer’s crisis is bearing down on us like a tsunami and this is something we need to take seriously. Within 10 years, Alzheimer’s is going to be the costliest disease in Canada and perhaps everywhere in western countries.”

Seed funding for both projects came from Alberta Innovates, the Alberta Prion Research Institute and the Alzheimer Society of Alberta & Northwest Territories.

“If we didn’t have this seed funding, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point,” Mohajerani says.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:04:26 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was awarded a record $3.9 million of funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) this year, with U of L researchers earning support for projects in neuroscience, biological sciences, psychology, chemistry & biochemistry, physics & astronomy, geography and mathematics & computer science.

This unprecedented level of support was announced earlier today by Canada’s Minister of State (Science and Technology), the Honourable Ed Holder, at a national funding announcement in Oshawa, Ont.

Dr. Robert McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year.

“This latest round of NSERC funding clearly demonstrates the outstanding research our faculty and students are undertaking,” says Interim Vice-President (Research) Dr. Lesley Brown. “That our research portfolio continues to grow as it does is testament to the quality of the work being done and also speaks to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ striking the right balance as a comprehensive teaching and research institution.”

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers receiving NSERC Discovery Grant funding include: Dr. Gerlinde Metz (neuroscience); Dr. Aaron Gruber (neuroscience); Dr. Alice Hontela (biological sciences); Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca (psychology); Dr. David Logue (psychology); Dr. Artur Luczak (neuroscience); Dr. Robert McDonald (neuroscience); Dr. Majid Mohajerani (neuroscience); Dr. Gregory Pyle (biological sciences); Dr. Masami Tatsuno (neuroscience); Dr. Paul Vasey (psychology); Dr. Robert Laird (biological sciences); Dr. René Boeré (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Paul Hayes (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Locke Spencer (physics & astronomy); Dr. Mark Walton (physics & astronomy); Dr. Christopher Hopkinson (geography); Dr. Robert Benkoczi (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Shahadat Hossain (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Habiba Kadiri (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Nathan Ng (mathematics & computer science).

In addition, Drs. John Zhang and Olga Kovalchuk were each awarded NSERC Discovery Development Grants.

Luczak and McDonald will also both receive an additional $120,000 in funds through the Discovery Accelerator Supplements program (over a three-year period), while McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year. He is studying neural circuits and mechanisms of context-specific conditioned inhibition.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s doctoral students were extremely successful in the NSERC Doctoral Scholarship competitions, led by Katie Wilson (chemistry & biochemistry), who was named a Canada Vanier Scholar, demonstrating leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies. Jason Flindall (neuroscience) was awarded a Canadian Doctoral Scholarship, while Kayla Stone (neuroscience), Allonna Harker (neuroscience) and Stefan Lenz (chemistry & biochemistry) were awarded NSERC Postgraduate Doctoral Scholarships. Additionally, five masters students were awarded the NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship, including: Justin Lee (neuroscience), Serena Shandik (neuroscience), Matthew Robbins (physics & astronomy), Rhys Hakstol (chemistry & biochemistry) and Douglas Turnbull (chemistry & biochemistry).

“We are pleased with the amount of money invested in our researchers and what this could yield in terms of the results they will achieve and the benefits their work will bring to society,” adds Brown. “Our continuing success with the federal research funding agencies is testament to our researchers’ ability to compete on the national stage.”

NSERC grants aim to develop, attract and retain the world’s most talented researchers at Canadian universities who are working in a multitude of scientific and engineering disciplines.

Canada Foundation for Innovation investment to support creation of cutting-edge cellular imaging research centre

trevor.kenney — Fri, 29 May 2015 17:24:48 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will embark on the creation of a new interdisciplinary research facility that promises to be Canada’s leading cellular imaging research centre thanks to a $2 million investment from the Government of Canada’s Canada Foundation for Innovation.

The Cell Signaling Interdisciplinary Research Centre (CSIRC) is a facility that will bring together researchers from neuroscience, biochemistry and biological sciences.

Today, the Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), announced more than $333 million for new research infrastructure that Canadian researchers will use to advance Canadian knowledge in areas ranging from mood disorders and robotics to food security and the search for new planets.

At the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, the $2,098,277 investment towards Dynamic Brain Mapping: Cell signaling to systems function, will create the Cell Signaling Interdisciplinary Research Centre (CSIRC), a facility that will bring together researchers from neuroscience, biochemistry and biological sciences.

“We plan to create Canada’s leading cellular imaging research centre to make fundamental discoveries on how dynamic regulation of brain and other systems activity determines risk for important diseases,” says lead investigator Dr. Robert Sutherland, Board of Governors Research Chair in Neuroscience. “These discoveries will provide new, key targets for developing prevention and therapy strategies.”

Sutherland, who will work closely with fellow neuroscientists Drs. Aaron Gruber, Andrew Iwaniuk, Bryan Kolb, Robert McDonald, Bruce McNaughton, Gerlinde Metz and Majid Mohajerani as well as Drs. Olga Kovalchuk (biological sciences) and HJ Wieden (biochemistry), explains how the new facility will extend the scope of researchers who are currently studying basic processes regulating brain health, degenerative disorders, infective agents and cancer.

“Gene expression and epigenetics play a key role in answering how cells learn, how they process, store and distribute information acquired during development,” he says. “CSIRC will enable us to make new discoveries in gene expression, epigenetics and therapeutics in cancer, dementia, developmental brain disorders, stroke and infections.”

Dr. Lesley Brown, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Interim Vice-President (Research), says the CFI investment recognizes the research expertise present at the U of L.

“Our researchers are respected as leaders in their field and the work they do is of great relevance to important areas of public concern such as health care,” says Brown. “This investment from the federal government is an endorsement of the world-class research being conducted here on campus.”

Nearly all of the infrastructure will enable the usersof the CSIRC group to conduct brain-imaging projects with viral vectors and genetically modified rodents. It will allow the group to move forward their activities, such as health-related research, training and partnering with non-academic collaborators, to that of a world leader.

“Today’s announcement will strengthen Canada’s reputation in science and technology by supporting research infrastructure that will attract world-class talent, train a new generation of students and make discoveries that benefit Canadians in remarkable ways,” says Holder.

McDonald earns visiting fellowship to Oxford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 18:30:12 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge neuroscience professor Dr. Robert McDonald has been elected for a prestigious visiting fellowship appointment at Corpus Christi College at Oxford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in spring 2015.

Dr. Rob McDonald and his family will live in a university-sponsored flat in one of Oxford's ancient buildings.

McDonald is a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Board of Governors Research Chair and the current director of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience. He is currently heading a number of research programs, including: an investigation of the effects of exposure to THC during puberty on adult cognitive functioning; the effects of circadian dysfunction, found in shift workers and the aged, on brain and body health; as well as developing alternative models for the cause of the sporadic form of Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s a great honour to receive this appointment to Corpus Christi College, one of Oxford’s older colleges,” says McDonald of Corpus Christi, founded in 1517 as a centre for new learning in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Oxford. “It’s also a great opportunity for myself and my family. We’ll live in one of the ancient buildings on campus and I’ll have the opportunity to give talks to different departments and establish collaborative relationships with some of the world’s leading neuroscience experts.”

The Visiting Research Fellows program consists of the election of one or more Visiting Fellows and Scholars. The program is intended for persons of high academic distinction.

Among other research areas, McDonald will investigate the role of context in learning and memory processes; the role of mini-stroke in Alzheimer’s disease; orbital frontal cortex contributions to anxiety; and the molecular basis of circadian-mediated memory impairments.

“I expect these collaborations will add significantly to my own training program and eventually lead to trainee exchanges between the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and Oxford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ,” says McDonald.

Having McDonald chosen for this appointment is testament to the world-class research program he leads and the quality of teaching and research students can access within the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience.

“The strength of our research programs at the U of L can be found in the quality of its faculty members and Dr. McDonald is an example of this,” says U of L Vice-President (Research) Dr. Dan Weeks. “Dr. McDonald is a world-leader in his field, who will contribute greatly in many important collaborations with Oxford researchers.”

McDonald’s appointment commences in March 2015 and is for three months.

Students earn significant traineeships

trevor.kenney — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:19:51 +0000

A total of five current ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students, under the leadership of faculty supervisors Dr. Bryan Kolb, Dr. Robert MacDonald and Dr. Gerlinde Metz, have been named as successful applicants for the Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions (formerly AHFMR) Hotchkiss Brain Institute Provincial Program on Perinatal Determinants of Brain and Mental Health 2010-2011 Traineeships.

Just 11 traineeships were approved by Alberta Innovates this year and the U of L managed to garner five of those 11 positions. As well, alumnus Dr. Simon Spanswick (MSc '05), currently working on post-doctoral studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary, was awarded another traineeship.

Following are brief descriptions of the successful applicants and their proposed research initiatives.

Robin Keeley (Dr. Robert McDonald) Chronic THC Administration During Puberty and its Effect on Behaviour and Brain Morphology in Adulthood

Keeley is starting her second year as a doctoral candidate at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge where her thesis will address the effect of chronic recreational drug use during puberty on adult male and female rat behaviour and brain morphology. Focusing on THC, the active component of marijuana, Keeley intends to evaluate gender-specific differences in adult cognition, and brain morphology and electrophysiology in two rat strains following pubertal THC exposure. She will also look at the priming effect of THC as a "gateway drug" whereby increased exposure may induce individuals to develop a propensity towards consuming more rewarding and harmful recreational drugs such as amphetamine.

Dr. Richelle Mychasiuk (Dr. Bryan Kolb) The Effect of Cumulative Experience on Brain Plasticity

In a continuation of the work presented in her doctoral thesis, Mychasiuk will investigate the hypothesis that early experiences alter experience-dependent plasticity later in life. She will conduct anatomical studies and investigate gene methylation and gene expression in brains of rats that have been exposed as pups to a variety of early experiences such as manipulated play partners and play-time, separation stress, or complex environments, followed by nicotine exposure and sensitization, complex housing, or elevated platform stress as juveniles and adults. By focusing on studies of cumulative experiences, Mychasiuk's work will contribute to a better understanding of how brain development is affected, and continues to be affected, by early experiences.

Dr. Farshad Nemati (Dr. Bryan Kolb) Neuroplasticity in Adolescence

Nemati (PhD '08) will continue his studies on neural plasticity that were initially funded under the 2009-2010 AI-HS/HBI Program. In his previous work, Nemati discovered differential neural reorganization and behavioural recovery in adult rats that had received brain injuries at different times in the lifespan. He will now look at the effect of long-term vs. short-term administration of nicotine alone or in combination with complex housing as an experience in rat subjects at two different ages. His results will provide insight into the neural, cognitive and behavioural responses of adults who experience drug addiction as adolescents.

Dr. Fabiola Zucchi (Dr. Gerlinde Metz) Brain MicroRNA (miR) Expression in Response to Prenatal Stress

Zucchi has been successful in obtaining a second year of funding as a post-doctoral fellow from the AI-HS/HBI Program. Zucchi achieved several milestones in her first year of funding towards determining the effects of prenatal and adult stress on brain gene and miR expression, as well as the ability to recover from stroke. She plans to continue the studies of adverse experience on miR expression and gene regulation by exploring molecular correlates of stress at the epigenetic, genetic and behavioural levels. Another objective of her work is to evaluate possible intervention strategies such as massage therapy in reducing the impact of prenatal stress and improving motor recovery after stroke.

Muhammad Arif (Dr. Bryan Kolb) Developmental Factors Related to Drug Addiction

Arif has been awarded funding for a second time under the AI-HS/HBI Program. He previously determined that pre- and postnatal tactile stimulation during development reduced amphetamine-induced behavioural sensitization and, hence, may play a protective role against drug addiction. Building upon the discovery that tactile stimulation has a positive influence on cognitive and social behaviours, he plans to investigate structural plasticity associated with experience (e.g. tactile stimulation) and drugs in modulating brain regions (e.g. reward circuit) with the aim of developing new treatment strategies and public policies to ameliorate drug addiction.

Investing In Mental Health

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:43:06 +0000

Just 11 traineeships were approved by Alberta Innovates this year and the
U of L managed to garner five of those 11 positions. As well, alumnus Dr. Simon Spanswick (MSc '05), currently working on post-doctoral studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary, was awarded another traineeship.

Following are brief descriptions of the successful applicants and their proposed research initiatives.

Robin Keeley (Dr. Robert McDonald) Chronic THC Administration During Puberty and its Effect on Behaviour and Brain Morphology in Adulthood

Dr. Richelle Mychasiuk (Dr. Bryan Kolb) The Effect of Cumulative Experience on Brain Plasticity

Dr. Farshad Nemati (Dr. Bryan Kolb) Neuroplasticity in Adolescence

Dr. Fabiola Zucchi (Dr. Gerlinde Metz) Brain MicroRNA (miR) Expression in Response to Prenatal Stress

Muhammad Arif (Dr. Bryan Kolb) Developmental Factors Related to Drug Addiction

UNews - Robert McDonald

Neuroscience pioneer Dr. Robert McDonald earns ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Speaker Research Award

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McDonald earns visiting fellowship to Oxford ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ