UNews - Alzheimer's disease

Dun Mao’s goal is to help people with memory disorders through neuroscience research

caroline.zentner — Wed, 31 May 2017 16:39:19 +0000

As a child, Dun Mao set his sights on becoming a scientist. That dream will become reality on Thursday, June 1 as he receives his doctoral degree in neuroscience during convocation ceremonies.

Originally from China, Mao started on his scientific path by obtaining a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering at Zhejiang ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. He then spent a year as a graduate student at the Buzsaki lab at Rutgers ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in New Jersey learning large-scale electrophysiology before joining the McNaughton lab at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

“The training environment here in neuroscience is one of the best in Canada and worldwide, especially in behavioural neuroscience and systems neuroscience,” says Mao. “We have several leading neuroscientists and we have a state-of-the-art research setup. We have a vibrant graduate community and all of this makes it a very good environment to do neuroscience research. I feel happy that I chose the U of L. It’s really been an unforgettable experience.”

The skills he learned while studying biomedical engineering have proved valuable in studying neuroscience, a field that increasingly requires multi-disciplinary approaches, including mathematical modelling, programming to analyze data and engineering to build research apparatuses. Mao is interested in the interactions between two regions in the brain: the hippocampus, thought to be the centre of memory, and the neocortex, thought to be involved in sensory perception, cognition, spatial reasoning and language.

Scientists believe the hippocampus is where new memories are formed. During sleep, memories get consolidated in the cortex, so there is communication between the hippocampus and the neocortex for information exchange and long-term storage of the memories. Most people find that various cues can trigger memories; scientists believe this process also depends on the hippocampus.

“I’m working on the retrosplenial cortex, a specific region in the neocortex,” says Mao. “This region is unique in that it has dense connections with the hippocampus. We chose to study this because of this unique position. It receives lots of hippocampal output so to understand the hippocampal-cortical interaction during spatial navigation or memory processing, this is the first neocortical region we would look at.”

For his doctoral work, Mao studied how the retrosplenial cortex functioned in visual processing and spatial navigation. He looked at single neuron activity in the retrosplenial cortex using a two-photon microscope.

“With this microscope, we can look at hundreds to thousands of cells simultaneously. This is important because we really need to look at the activity of lots of cells to understand what this region is doing during behaviour,” Mao says.

Using a mouse model, Mao found that neurons in the retrosplenial cortex behaved much like neurons in the hippocampus, mapping the environment and encoding a lot of visual information.

“We found these two functional cell types in the retrosplenial cortex, one devoted to spatial mapping and the other devoted to visual processing. We are now studying how these two information streams interact in the retrosplenial cortex,” he says.

In collaboration with the Bonin lab at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Leuven in Belgium, this work was recently accepted by the journal Nature Communications and should be published in the next couple of months.

Mao’s studies at the U of L were assisted by an Alberta Innovates: Health Solutions Graduate Studentship and U of L scholarships.

“All of this allowed me to focus on my research, for which I feel very grateful,” he says.

Since defending his PhD thesis in December 2016, he has been finishing follow-up experiments. Mao will leave Lethbridge for Houston, Texas at the end of July to take a position as a post-doctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine and continue his research in a primate lab. He hopes to eventually have his own laboratory at a university.

“The problem is that there is a big gap between rodent research and primate-human research,” he says. “We understand a lot about what the hippocampus and cortex are doing but we don’t really know how we can translate that to higher order mammals. I want to bridge this gap and hopefully it can translate into better understanding of the human brain. I hope to study some of the disease models, such as Alzheimer’s disease, which is highly hippocampus-related. Hopefully this basic research in animals will help us understand humans and help us understand neurological diseases.”

When he’s not working or studying, Mao has used his time in Lethbridge to enjoy the great outdoors, including hiking, camping and snowboarding. He also enjoys playing badminton. He’s participated in the Southern Alberta Summer Games, earning a gold medal in men’s doubles and a silver medal in men’s singles.

U of L announces Dr. Athanasios Zovoilis as its newest Canada Research Chair

caroline.zentner — Tue, 16 May 2017 16:17:16 +0000

The federal government has named Dr. Athanasios Zovoilis, a professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, a Tier II Canada Research Chair in RNA Bioinformatics and Genomics.

The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Canada’s minister of science, recently announced $125.9 million in funding for 142 chairholders. Along with the Canada Research Chairs, Duncan introduced a new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan to address the lack of diversity among Canada Research Chairs.

“Our government is committed to promoting equity and diversity within the sciences. We need to work harder to ensure that talented researchers have the opportunity to advance. The announcement of the action plan is an important step towards a more inclusive, open and diverse research environment in Canada,” says Duncan.

In addition to $500,000 in funding through the Canada Research Chair program, Zovoilis will receive more than $53,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund for laboratory tools and equipment.

Dr. Athan Zovoilis is the U of L's latest Canada Research Chair.

Zovoilis, a bioinformatician and genomicist, came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge from Boston’s Harvard ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to establish and pursue a research program aimed at developing personalized treatments for diseases like cancer and dementia. Zovoilis joined the U of L's Alberta RNA Research and Training Institute (ARRTI), a research centre devoted to RNA research. During the last 10 years, the U of L has made a significant investment in the fast-developing field of RNA research by establishing ARRTI and attracting world-class scientists that develop cutting-edge research in understanding how RNA applications can support human health and biotechnology innovation.

“It was not a very difficult decision, I have to say,” says Zovoilis. “Having lived in Canada before, I know there’s support for science, for families and for integrating people to the society. It makes the perfect combination.”

Originally from Greece, Zovoilis began medical studies in his homeland and completed them in Germany. After witnessing the impact of diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer on members of his community, he knew he wanted a career where he could help people.

“I didn’t like this feeling of helplessness. That was one of the things that motivated me to go to medical school,” he says.

While in medical school, molecular biology captured his interest. The Human Genome Project was underway at the time and the research possibilities it presented were captivating.

“A new era was starting and I decided to specialize in it,” says Zovoilis. “I was convinced that if we want to fight Alzheimer’s and cancer we have to understand what’s happening at the molecular level in our cells. If we understand the basic mechanisms that underlie these diseases then we will be able to fight them more efficiently.”

He pursued a doctorate in molecular genetics and began working with breast cancer patients, looking for mutations in genes known to cause cancer. Studying only two out of tens of thousands of genes, coupled with the limitations of DNA sequencers, meant progress was slow. However, technological advances soon led to much faster DNA sequencing and produced larger amounts of data. Zovoilis determined to get training in bioinformatics, a new discipline that provides the computer programs that can read and analyze the data produced by modern sequencers. He went to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manchester in England to take further training and then joined the bioinformatics group at the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver, an organization at the forefront of personalized medicine in Canada. There he joined other scientists who were interested in analyzing noncoding sections of the genome, or what was once known as junk DNA.

Because it was at the forefront of analyzing noncoding sections of a genome, Zovoilis then went to Harvard as a research fellow. His research there, recently published in the journal Cell, the top journal in molecular biosciences, revealed a connection between these noncoding sections of the genome and cancer. Now at the U of L, Zovoilis will continue this work with the eventual goal of bringing testing to everyday clinical practice.

“In this lab, we specialize in reading the book of life and we use this information to provide personalized medicine opportunities for patients in the near future,” says Zovoilis.

Such an approach is not as widely available in Canada as it is in the United States or through the Genome Science Centre in British Columbia but he hopes to launch a similar project in Alberta.

“We intend to find partners in this initiative,” says Zovoilis. “It has to be a pan-provincial initiative but southern Alberta can be part of this.”

Zovoilis adds that a personalized approach doesn’t perform miracles but many studies have shown that targeted therapies can help and genomics is the main tool to find them.

“I wanted to come back to Canada,” he says. “Canadians are very open minded and there has been, in recent years, significant investment in research. It is not advertised a lot but, especially here in Alberta, universities have improved substantially their capabilities. They have expanded their programs. I see a huge potential, especially at the U of L. That’s one of the main reasons why I decided to come here.”

CCBN research capabilities expand with state-of-the-art optical imaging lab

caroline.zentner — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 16:29:03 +0000

A state-of-the-art optical imaging lab in the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) is giving ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge scientists a leg up in unlocking the secrets of how our brains function. Two-and-a-half years in the making, Mohajerani's lab is hoping to map, with outstanding precision, how the brain repairs itself after a stroke and also provide new insight into neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Having an optical imaging facility, along with the establishment of a population of transgenic mice, will allow Dr. Majid Mohajerani and his colleagues to study the mouse brain in action. This modern rodent-imaging facility is the result of a collective effort that began in 2008 with a major investment of Polaris funds from Alberta Innovates: Health Solutions and the U of L to Dr. Bruce McNaughton and with two infrastructure grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to Dr. Rob Sutherland.

Transgenic mice look like ordinary mice but they have been genetically modified. They are used in research because they carry many of the same genes as humans and can be used to study many illnesses, including neurological diseases.

“We know that some of the human brain disorders are caused by a variation or a mutation in a gene or group of genes. In the past 30 years, researchers began to insert human genes into the brain cells of living mice," says Mohajerani. "Using transgenic animals, scientists like me can now try to discover the cause of many diseases, and this may point the way to better treatment of those brain disorders."

With these developments, CCBN researchers will now be able to answer more complicated and detailed questions about what goes on in the brain after an injury like a stroke or in neurological diseases like Alzheimer's.

“One of the topics we are interested in studying is the effect of tiny, ischemic (resulting from inadequate blood supply) strokes on cognitive impairment and dementia. This type of stroke is a common feature of the aging brain. In collaboration with Dr. Rob McDonald's lab, we are studying how these small strokes could potentially drive the progression of Alzheimer's pathology and cognitive impairment. Having a transgenic animal model of Alzheimer's disease is essential to address this question," he says. "This work might potentially lead to new understanding of the link between stroke and Alzheimer's disease."

Neurons can be manipulated using genetic tools to fluoresce in different colours when exposed to light, allowing researchers to gain a better picture of what’s happening in the brain.

"Using this novel combination of genetics, optical imaging and bioengineering, we can watch thousands of neurons over the course of days and months. This will allow us to study how different parts of the brain communicate and work with each other, and how changes in brain circuitry can lead to mental disorders like Alzheimer's disease," says Mohajerani. “I have invested a lot of effort to bring our infrastructure to acceptable levels. We can consider ourselves a world-class neuroscience institution."

The equipment allows researchers to shine a light on a specific area in the brain of a transgenic mouse and activate the neurons involved in a particular function or behaviour, such as running or recalling a familiar memory. Not only will Mohajerani’s research program reveal more information about how the brain functions, but the results will also improve treatments for human patients.

“We don’t know whether the findings we make with mice are necessarily translatable to humans but we don’t have any other choice. We have to try different things and hope to see one of them get translated into actual use in humans,” he says.

Mohajerani can now see how the efforts of the past two-and-a-half years are coming together.

“This would not be possible without the talented people who work with me in this department—my colleagues who are very knowledgeable about brain function, our hard-working students and trainees, and our wonderful animal care staff.

Dr. Michael Kyweriga’s auditory research study details some of the work being done in Mohajerani’s lab.

Hotchkiss leaves legacy gift

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:20:26 +0000

Just as his life left an everlasting, positive impact on Calgarians, Albertans and beyond, the late Dr. Harley Hotchkiss's (LLD '07) $1 million gift to support brain research will leave a permanent legacy at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

The gift will move forward important research at the U of L's Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience (CCBN). A permanent endowment that will carry Dr. Hotchkiss's name will support research conducted by the CCBN's world-leading researchers.

"My father was proud of his association with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, through the Canadian Centre for Behavioral Neuroscience, for several reasons," says Brenda Mackie, Hotchkiss's daughter. " He had a lifelong love of learning, and he understood that solid medical research leads to better patient outcomes and a healthier population. He strongly believed in giving back to the community."

Hotchkiss is well known for the many contributions he made in the area of brain research. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute was named in his honour.

"He was proud of the vision of collaboration between the Universities of Lethbridge, Calgary and Alberta. This gift to the U of L is a testament to his respect and admiration for the research being conducted there," says Mackie.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge President Mike Mahon says Dr. Hotchkiss's extraordinary gift will advance the important work being conducted by CCBN researchers in the areas of brain injury, Alzheimer's Disease, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, stroke and many others.

"We are honoured to receive this very significant gift," says Mahon. "U of L researchers have contributed greatly to understanding the brain. These discoveries are making a real difference in people's lives and will be the base of significant future findings and treatments."

In addition to direct support for research, the endowment will also support a speaker series carrying Dr. Hotchkiss's name, which will bring prominent speakers to Alberta and provide enhanced learning and interaction opportunities with students and researchers.

"Over the years, Harley Hotchkiss has been a very significant supporter of neuroscience research and education in Alberta, and at the CCBN in particular," says Dr. Rob Sutherland, Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at the U of L. "As researchers look to diversify support for basic research, gifts such as this from the Hotchkiss family become essential in enabling us to conduct the basic brain research and training that will bring about new discoveries that will lead to tomorrow's treatments for brain diseases."

The gift to the U of L is consistent with the encouragement Dr. Hotchkiss gave others about being involved in their communities. In his 2007 Honorary Degree address at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge convocation ceremonies, he stated, "At the end of the road you will look back on how you lived your life and how you treated others. Be a contributor, and wherever you can, leave things a little better."

Groundbreaking study to focus on moral distress

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:59:54 +0000

Knowing the right thing to do is one thing. Actually being able to do it, quite another.

In fact, many nurses experience that dilemma every day, according to ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researcher Dr. Shannon Spenceley. She is exploring ways to lessen this source of moral stress among nurses in the workplace.

The study, which is funded by the national Alzheimer Society Research Program, is the first in Canada to focus on moral distress in continuing care settings, such as long-term care or supportive living facilities.

A nursing professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Spenceley is the principal investigator on a study that is examining moral distress among nurses who care for those with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other forms of dementia.

The Alzheimer Society of Canada reports that more than 747,000 Canadians are living with AD or other types of dementia – and that figure is expected to more than double in 25 years (by 2038).

In Alberta, there are more than 46,000 people with Alzheimer's or related dementias, and over the next 25 years, that figure is expected to reach more than 100,000. Seventeen per cent of new cases are 'early onset', where people are diagnosed before age 65, and 72 per cent of those are women.

A fatal and progressive disease that destroys brain cells, AD affects one's ability to remember things, make decisions and perform routine activities. Most people living in residential care facilities have some form of dementia, including AD.

Nursing caregivers can find themselves in difficult, and ethically complex, situations when trying to provide the best care for residents with dementia.

"It may be that a nurse who is caring for a confused and agitated resident can either use a prescription drug to reduce the agitation or simply sit with a resident until the resident calms down," says Spenceley. "The nurse knows that while the former option may cause undesirable side effects, the latter one will require extra time. In a situation where staffing is short and there are many competing demands, the nurse may feel that the choice he/she feels is right is simply not possible. Such situations create feelings of moral distress, which has been linked over time to nurse burnout, and to nurses leaving a job or even the profession."

To better understand the triggers and effects of moral distress, and to help residential-care managers address staff recruitment and retention challenges, Spenceley's team will interview and survey nursing caregivers in several facilities across southern Alberta.

"Ultimately, we want to develop strategies to mitigate moral distress," says Spenceley. "By understanding such issues, and working to create solutions, it creates the opportunity to address some of the recruitment and retention issues faced in this sector of care. Finally, anything that can be done to create a healthier and happier workforce caring for this complex population is a step in the right direction in terms of providing high-quality residential care."

The two-year project also involves U of L health sciences co-investigators Dr. Bradley Hagen and Dr. Olu Awosoga, as well as Dr. Barry Hall of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary Faculty of Social Work (Lethbridge Campus) and Dr. Roland Ikuta, the medical director of Seniors Health, Alberta Health Services (AHS) South Zone. Colin Zeiber, executive director of Seniors Health for Alberta Health Services (AHS) South Zone, is the AHS community partner liaison for the project.

Sutherland on the cutting edge of science

trevor.kenney — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:40:32 +0000

The human brain is a remarkable organ. From the day we're born until the day we die, our brains evolve as we experience the world and expand our knowledge.

But the brain is also vulnerable to dementia-related diseases like Alzheimer's disease, which kills the brain's cerebral cortex cells and erodes short-term memory.

Recently, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) neuroscientist Dr. Robert Sutherland made international headlines when he and his research team became the first in the world to regenerate cerebral cortex brain cells in adult rats.

Sutherland's history at the U of L goes back to 1980, when he completed post-doctoral training in neuropsychology and became a psychology faculty member until 1991. After a decade teaching and researching at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of New Mexico, he returned to the U of L to help launch the CCBN, Canada's first department of neuroscience, in 2001.

Sutherland says the facility offers excellent infrastructure (including high-tech lab space and funding), and a critical mass of expertise. "It's a highly collaborative place. I've worked and published with virtually every faculty member," he says.

The CCBN is also an important training ground for up-and-coming neuroscientists, and is further evidence of how much the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ has grown in its 45 years, from a primarily undergraduate university to one that is on the cutting edge of scientific breakthroughs.

Corkin to give Milner Series address

trevor.kenney — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:28:56 +0000

Dr. Suzanne Corkin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, appears at the Lethbridge Public Library Monday, May 9, 7 p.m., as the guest speaker for the Brenda Milner Lecture Series.

Corkin, a professor of neuroscience at MIT, is best known for her work with the famous amnesic patient H.M. who suffered from an unusual condition as a result of brain surgery to treat his epilepsy: He was unable to form new long-term memories. Her presentation is titled Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease.

Her research focuses on the multiple memory systems in the brain and involves human patients with neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

In addition to age-related illnesses, Dr. Corkin also studies the processes of healthy aging in relation to the brain.

The next generation

trevor.kenney — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 18:58:15 +0000

The human brain is a remarkable organ. From the day we're born until the day we die, our brains evolve as we experience the world and expand our knowledge.

But the brain is also vulnerable to dementia-related diseases like Alzheimer's disease, which kills the brain's cerebral cortex cells and erodes short-term memory.

Dr. Robert Sutherland is an Alberta Heritage Medical scientist; the director of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience; and a professor of neuroscience at the U of L.

This summer, Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) neuroscientist Dr. Robert Sutherland made international headlines when he and his research team became the first in the world to regenerate cerebral cortex brain cells in adult rats.

The research focused on a part of the brain called the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped region of the brain responsible for short- and long-term memory storage and retrieval. This is an area that is especially sensitive to illnesses or injuries that can create memory loss, explains Sutherland. It's also a part of the brain that throughout adult life spontaneously creates new cells that are able to easily find their correct position in the brain's circuitry.

The team began by killing off about half of these cells by depriving them of corticosterone, an important hormone the cells need to function, causing the rats to develop memory issues very similar to humans suffering with dementia. Through a combination of a specific protein therapy, an enriched living environment and exercise, the researchers were able to re-grow the lost brain cells and prove that the rats had regained their memory function.

Regenerating brain cells is a problem neuroscientists have been struggling with for many years, with limited success. The challenge stems from the nature of the brain itself. "If you open up a laptop and take a look at the circuit board, every portion you look at has a sophisticated set of connections with other pieces," says Sutherland. "The brain is even more complicated."

Sutherland and his team at the U of L's CCBN – including undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral trainee Jen Lai and doctoral candidates Simon Spanswick and Fraser Sparks – began working on the problem about five years ago.

The CCBN is also an important training ground for up-and-coming neuroscientists, like doctoral candidate Fraser Sparks, who helped with the brain cell regeneration project. Sparks says Sutherland's lab has a unique research environment, encouraging students to assist on each other's research programs and allowing them the chance to explore anything they find intriguing. "One thing we're not afraid to do in the Sutherland lab is criticize theories – including our own," says Sparks.

While Sutherland's regeneration technique is a major discovery, it is only the beginning. The next step will be to translate the research into therapies that work for patients. Sutherland and his team have received a second five-year grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to continue the project.

"Part of what we're doing is refining the treatments to get closer to an actual effective clinical therapy, and in an absolutely convincing manner, show that these cells are functioning the way they should," says Sutherland.

For patients with dementia diseases, a clinical therapy is desperately needed. Sutherland points out that at the current rate of growth, in 30 years, someone will develop dementia every two minutes.

"The total cost of dementia could reach $153 billion per year by 2038, up from the current cost of $15 billion per year. Without fundamental scientific advances such as ours, it is certain that the burdens will grow dramatically," says Sutherland. "It is urgent that we find ways of preventing, reversing and repairing injured brains. Our findings are a significant advance in that direction."

This story originally appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of SAM. For a look at the full issue of SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Brain cell re-growth confirmed at CCBN

trevor.kenney — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:02:34 +0000

A research team at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience has confirmed -- through extensive research and peer-reviewed testing -- the world's first successful example of brain cell re-growth in an adult mammal.

CCBN Researcher Robert Sutherland, postdoctoral trainee Jen Lai , and doctoral candidates Simon Spanswick and Fraser Sparks -- along with a large number of undergraduate and graduate student assistants -- spent the past five years on a project funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) to refine a definitive demonstration to confirm how cortical cells can be encouraged to re-grow in the adult brain.

The implications are significant for further research into dementia-related diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, involving death of cerebral cortex cells, which affects thousands of people each year in Canada.

Other diseases that can have memory deficit at their core include stroke, the side-effects of most cancer therapies, epilepsy, chronic stress and substance abuse. Their funding was recently renewed by the CIHR at more than $680,000 over the next five years to continue the project.

"At the current rate, in 30 years someone will develop dementia every two minutes," Sutherland said.

"The total cost of dementia could reach $153 billion dollars per year by 2038, up from the current cost of $15 billion dollars per year. Without fundamental scientific advances such as ours, it is certain that the burdens will grow dramatically. It is urgent that we find ways of preventing, reversing, and repairing injured brains, and our findings are a significant advance in that direction."

Sutherland stressed that at this time the research focuses on the reliability of a specific method to re-grow damaged cells in the hippocampus -- and while successful in rats, requires significant further research to be useful to humans in the future.

"Re-growing brain cells has been a central challenge in neuroscience and has been explored in many forms since the late 19th century," Sutherland said.

We took the approach that we should look for a simple way to prove that cells can be re-grown and restore lost functions."

The researchers focused on the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped area of the brain which is responsible for short and long-term memory storage and retrieval.

"The hippocampus is very similar in rats and humans, and generally is the part of the brain where cells governing memory die first, or are affected by illness or injury," Sutherland said.

"Another important fact about this part of the hippocampus is that it has the ability to produce a small number of new brain cells, even in adults, so we knew that the process to make cell re-growth happen was there, but was not able to be turned on or increased at will," Sutherland said.

In Sutherland's experiments the loss of cells was caused by eliminating a hormone called corticosterone that is necessary for keeping alive certain brain cells in the hippocampus.

After these cells died Sutherland and his students showed that the rats had memory problems that resemble dementia.

Through a combination of exercise, an enriched living environment, and a specific protein therapy, the rats, when tested on a complicated exercise field, were proven to have fully recovered their memory, and showed regrowth of the damaged hippocampus parts.

Sutherland said people should be heartened by the fact that there is now a lot more definition to the process of testing cell re-growth. "The long-term goals are to develop treatments for cognitive disorders, especially due to anti-cancer therapies, age-related dementias, and related forms of brain injury."

Parts of this research have been presented at several international neuroscience conferences and published in several peer-reviewed journals, referenced below.

UNews - Alzheimer's disease

Dun Mao’s goal is to help people with memory disorders through neuroscience research

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