alzheiMeR`s fighTing The Mind Thief: deTecTing and TReaTing

The Magazine of Medical Research and Innovation
fighting the
mind thief:
detecting
and treating
alzheimer’s
2009-2010
The Magazine of Medical Research and Innovation
2009-2010
AN ENVIRONMENT OF EXCELLENCE
This issue of Discovery marks my first year as
Director of Robarts Research Institute, a year that
has seen much activity and success:
• Renovations to the seventh floor are complete and
have transformed an empty shell into a state-ofthe-art molecular and cellular neuroscience facility.
Home to four scientists, including myself, eventually
more than 50 researchers, staff and trainees will
occupy the facility.
• In
February, we welcomed Ontario Premier
Dalton McGuinty who officially re-opened the
Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping in
the A.M. Cuddy Wing.
• Our
scientists have published their research in some of the most respected journals in the
world (see pages 4-5) and received national and
international awards and accolades (see page 27).
are developing a new website for the Institute, which will go live later this fall at www.robarts.ca.
While it has been a busy and successful year, Robarts hasn’t escaped the reality of the global
economic downturn. Now, more than ever, we rely
on support from our generous and forward-thinking
donors. Later this fall, Robarts will join The University
of Western Ontario for the public launch of the
“Make a Difference” fundraising campaign. Our goal is
to raise $25 million for priority research areas at
Robarts such as Alzheimer’s, stroke, spinal cord injury,
brain disorders and cardiovascular disease.
In response to the economic challenges we face,
we must protect our core capital asset – our scientists
and their research – and continue to nurture an
environment of excellence. My overriding priority is to
ensure our vibrant research programs continue to grow
and thrive as we move forward into the next year.
page 6
• We
Dr. John MacDonald
Director
are in the final stages of developing our five-year strategic plan.
COLLABORATION IS the KEY
Robarts’ collaborative and interdisciplinary, lab bench to bed-side approach to medical research sets us apart.
We unite a wide range of researchers – from physicians
and physicists to biologists and biomedical engineers –
under one roof and encourage them to work together
on disease prevention, detection, and treatment.
The stories featured in this issue of Discovery
speak to that approach. In their quest to “fight the mind thief,” Robarts scientists Jane Rylett and
Rob Bartha work with colleagues from various
disciplines including cell biology and genetics. Dr. David Spence’s stroke research uses ultrasound
technology developed by Robarts’ own Aaron
Fenster. And our new 7 Tesla imaging system will
help many of our scientists move their research
forward faster.
Collaboration is also the key to putting London,
Ontario on the world map. I believe we can achieve
this by increasing academic and clinical alliances
between London’s hospitals, The University of
Western Ontario, Lawson Health Research Institute and Robarts, as well as other leading
academic institutions around the globe. Our joint
commercialization efforts at Robarts, working with London’s technology transfer consortium,
WORLDiscoveries, will continue to create jobs and bring investment capital to our city. But this is
just the beginning. Together, we can make greater
strides in medical research and innovation. I know
that all of us on Robarts Council share in this vision
and celebrate the collective success of our
scientists at Robarts Research Institute and at
Western. Robarts has and will continue to make a difference.
ROBARTS COUNCIL CHAIR
page 4
Research Results
page 22
page 6
Shedding light on grey matter page 23
The Gene Hunter
RESEARCHERS “SPARC”
REVOLUTION in STROKE PREVENTION
page 24
Institute News page 26
Outside the Lab
page 27
Awards and Accolades
Editorial Board: Helen Connell, Kris Dundas, Jennifer Foster, Gerald Kidder, PhD, Ravi Menon, PhD, Terry Rice, Dr. Cecil Rorabeck, Anthea Rowe
page 10
Contributing Writers: Shannon Armstrong, Shannon English, Keri Ferguson,
Wendy Haaf, Krista Habermehl, Mark Kearney, Pat Morden, Sonia Preszcator, Anthea Rowe,
Marcia Steyaert, Kathy Wallis
page 14
Photographers: Shawn Simpson, SWS
Photography; Rachel Lincoln, Rachel Lincoln
Photography; Paul Mayne, Western News
page 16
Design & Art Direction:
themarketingdepartment.ca
Printer: Contact Creative
Discovery is published by Robarts Research
Institute. All contents copyright © 2009.
Mailing Address:
Robarts Research Institute
P.O. Box 5015, 100 Perth Drive
London ON, Canada N6A 5K8
[email protected] www.robarts.ca
Cert no. SW-COC-002956
Dr. Cecil Rorabeck
page 16
Publisher: John F. MacDonald
Editor: Marcia Steyaert
• We
page 10
*Man on cover for illustrative purposes only
page 20
page 21
STUDENTS MATTER
fighting the mind thief:
detecting and treating
alzheimer’s
Scientist Survey
Cuddy Wing Re-Dedicated in Mac’s honour
Fergusons donate $50,000
to Barnett Chair
Research Results
NEW BLOOD knee SURGERY
VESSELS FROM PROVIDES NO
pain RELIEF
STEM CELLS
DEPRESSION
LINKED TO
BRAIN
CHANGES
FINDING NEW
TREATMENTS
FOR EPILEPSY
LESS
IS MORE
PEACEFUL
SUPERBUGS
Blood (Journal of the American Society of
Hematology), April 2008
New England Journal of Medicine
September 2008
Biological Psychiatry
October 2008
Science
December 2008
Hypertension
April 2009
Nature Medicine
June 2009
Research led by Robarts scientist David Hess, PhD, demonstrates how
selected stem cells from bone marrow
can be used to grow new blood vessels
to treat diseases such as peripheral
artery disease, one of the complications
often faced by diabetics. Reduced
blood flow (ischemia) in their limbs can
lead to resting pain, trouble with wound
healing and, in severe cases, amputation.
Hess showed these stem cells have a
natural ability to hone in on the area of ischemia to induce blood vessel
repair and improve blood flow. Data
from the research was used by Aldagen,
a biopharmaceutical company, to
receive FDA approval for a clinical trial
involving 21 patients with end-stage
peripheral artery disease. Treated
patients in the clinical trial experienced
improvements including increased
blood flow in the affected limb.
Arthroscopic surgery, widely accepted as an effective treatment for
osteoarthritis of the knee, is actually
ineffective at reducing joint pain or
improving joint function, according to a
landmark study co-authored by Dr. Brian
Feagan, Robarts Clinical Trials Director,
and conducted at Western and Lawson
Health Research Institute. Osteoarthritis
is the most common form of arthritis
affecting one in 10 Canadians. The study was coordinated by Robarts
Clinical Trials and conducted by
orthopaedic surgeons at the Fowler
Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic. The
study was designed by the late Sandy
Kirkley, an orthopaedic surgeon
specializing in arthroscopic surgery.
A study of brain tissue collected during
autopsies may explain a cause of major
depression. An international research
group, led by Robarts scientist Michael
Poulter, PhD, and Dr. Hymie Anisman of
Carleton University, is the first to show
proteins that chemically modify DNA
are more highly expressed in the brains
of people having major depressive
disorder (MDD) who committed suicide.
A comparison of the DNA isolated from
the MDD brains with those from people
who had died suddenly from other
causes showed the MDD genome was
altered by a process that is usually more
associated with determining how organs
in the body develop into unique
structures. “These observations open an entirely new avenue of research and
potential therapeutic interventions,”
says Poulter.
Robarts Director John MacDonald, PhD, was involved in research with
neuroscientists from the University of
British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal
Health Research Institute that could
lead to new therapies for epilepsy
caused by brain trauma or stroke. The
findings showed gaps in nerve cells in
the brain, called hemichannels, may be
responsible for epileptic seizures that
occur following head trauma or stroke.
In a previous Science paper, the group
showed that a stroke can open these
hemichannels, allowing a flood of
chemicals to enter the neurons and,
ultimately, lead to the death of the
neuron. This latest discovery will allow
researchers to focus on new treatments
for epilepsy that block these channels.
According to a new study led by
Robarts scientist Dr. Ross Feldman,
patients have more control of their high
blood pressure (hypertension) when
treated with less medication. The study
shows that the majority of recentlydiagnosed patients would be better
served starting with a half tablet of a
single pill combination drug (eg. an ACE-inhibitor/diuretic or Angiotensin
receptor blocker/diuretic combination)
rather than the regular starting dose of a single drug. Researchers wanted to
see if there are simpler ways to help
patients and their doctors reduce their
blood pressure to goal levels than by
following national guidelines which can
be complicated. Proper diagnosis and
treatment of high blood pressure can cut
the risk of stroke by up to 40 per cent
and heart attack by up to 25 per cent.
It appears some superbugs have evolved to develop the ability to
manipulate the immune system to
everyone’s advantage. A team of
researchers, led by Dr. Joaquin
Madrenas at Robarts, has discovered
some processes that reduce the lethal
effects of toxins from superbugs,
allowing humans and microbes to co-evolve. This discovery may lead to
novel alternatives to antibiotics that
specifically target the toxic effects of
these superbugs. Madrenas holds the
Canada Research Chair in Transplantation
and Immunobiology, is head of
Immunology at Robarts, and is the
Director of the FOCIS Centre for Clinical
Immunology and Immunotherapeutics.
The study was funded by the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research and the
Kidney Foundation of Canada.
page 4
page 5
Robarts
Shedding
light on
grey matter
There’s only one
human 7 Tesla MRI
scanner of its kind in Canada And Robarts
Research Institute
has it. Ravi Menon couldn’t be happier.
By mark kearney
page 6
page 7
Robarts
Canada’s first 7T MRI opens window for Robarts researchers
While Ravi Menon, PhD, the Institute’s
Deputy Director and Canada Research
Chair in Functional and Molecular
Imaging, says the acquisition of the 7T
scanner last fall has already created
excitement among Canadian researchers,
it’s the potential new worlds of discovery
the scanner can provide that will
ultimately prove its worth.
Although Robarts was still in the
“sorting out stage” with the 7T scanner
this spring, Menon hopes to be running
the first major studies on the 7T later
this fall. He expects those first studies
will focus on basic neuroscience, such
as how the brain processes motion for example.
The new 7T scanner produces
images with four times the contrast of
the existing 3T scanner - and more than
20 times that of the common 1.5T
scanners. That means that to get the
equivalent kind of functional images
with a less powerful scanner you’d have
to scan a person 500 times, he explains.
“No one can stay still for that amount
of time.”
Researchers using a 7T can examine small regions of the brain that
are invisible to other scanners, so this
“opens a whole new window into how
the brain works,” Menon says.
“We’re lucky to have it and well
positioned to really show how the
technology will benefit brain function,”
he adds. While the science of
interpreting images from scanners this
powerful is still in its infancy, Menon
believes the increased understanding
of the “underlying micro-structure of
the brain” will ultimately lead to
amazing diagnostic possibilities.
He cites Alzheimer’s research as one area that should benefit from the
technology available from 7T and even
more powerful scanners. Viewing and
better understanding the plaques
found in an Alzheimer’s brain may
eventually help with early diagnosis in
younger people to help slow down the
effects of the disease. “Early diagnosis
is the key since there is no cure at the
moment,” he says.
For Robarts the 7T scanner “gives
us a unique advantage in a Canadian
context for recruitment of faculty,
staff and students looking to work in
this state-of-the-art facility.
That’s a big advantage for
us.” Researchers from
several other Canadian
institutions are already
lining up to make use of the
scanner.
Menon acknowledges it can be difficult to keep
highly qualified researchers
in Canada because of the
lure of going to bigger,
better funded and equipped
labs in the U.S. and Europe.
Robarts is still “one of the
leading ultra high MRI labs in
the world” but has to
compete with such facilities
as the University of
Minnesota that alone has 10
of the 4T to 14.7T scanners
in the world. Minnesota and
the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) are now
“Compared to similar studies with 3T scanners, it took just a few minutes to get these images of brain activity,” says Ravi Menon,
ordering 11.7T human
Director of the Centre for Functional & Metabolic Mapping at Robarts. “The 7T also shows the activation patterns following the
grey matter ribbon perfectly - they tend to be more diffuse using the 3T. Finally, many more areas are found with the 7T than
with the 3T, suggesting 7T studies will unlock new areas of the brain involved in cognitive and sensorimotor tasks.”
page 8
scanners, he says. Robarts gains from the knowledge base
that now exists with researchers who have been using 7T
scanners for years, says Menon. ”We can benefit from their
learning curve.”
Not that Robarts hasn’t already made strides with its
other 3T and 4T scanners. Earlier this year, Robarts
announced that brain imaging studies by professor Ruth
Martin and Menon helped inform the development of a
novel therapy system for treating dysphagia, a debilitating
swallowing impairment that occurs because of disease or
damage to the neural or structural systems that give rise to
swallowing. Martin and Menon had previously collaborated
on MRI studies of the cerebral cortex that led to the idea
that air-pulse trains directed at the oropharynx helped
facilitate swallowing.
Once the 7T scanner is operating at the same eight to 10 hour a day rate as Robarts’ other scanners, there will be
even more exciting and valuable research to follow, says
Menon. But with all the breakthroughs and technology
The 7T scanner provides
images that have four times
better contrast than the
current 3T and more than
20 times that of the more
common 1.5T scanners
available, the understanding of the brain remains something
of a grand mystery.
“What perhaps is most amazing is how little we know about everything, from how the brain works to cognitive
capacity. The more we know, the less we know in a way.”
Premier Dalton McGuinty with Dr. Henry Barnett, Robarts’
founding scientific director, at the official re-opening of
the Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping.
PREMIER
VISITS
ROBARTS
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty
visited Robarts on February 10 to
officially re-open the Centre for
Functional and Metabolic Mapping in
the A.M. Cuddy Wing. The Ontario
Ministry of Research and Innovation
provided $12 million in funding in
March 2007 for renovations to the
Cuddy Wing to accommodate two
new MRI machines, a 3 Tesla magnet
and 7 Tesla magnet, which were also
part of the funding package.
“Our economy’s true purpose is to build a strong, caring society.
This new technology will help our
scientists make breakthroughs in
important medical research. And it’s a good example of how innovation
can be used to create a more caring
society,” said Premier McGuinty.
“For more than 20 years, Robarts has been on the leadingedge of medical discovery and our
imaging scientists are recognized
nationally and internationally for their work,” said Robarts Director
John MacDonald. “This investment
from the Government of Ontario will enable our researchers to
advance their investigations into the
workings of the normal human brain,
and of diseases such as mental illness,
stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.”
page 9
Robarts
After making great gains in the prevention of strokes and heart attacks on their home turf, a team of Robarts researchers is poised to radically transform the
treatment of artery disease
worldwide.
RESEARCHERS
“SPARC”
REVOLUTION
in STROKE
By wendy haaf
PREVENTION
page 10
page 11
Robarts
scientists are planning
to launch a randomized
trial, which, if successful,
would revolutionize the
prevention
of cardiovascular disease
As a neurology resident working under
the renowned neurologist Dr. Henry
Barnett (Robarts founding scientific
director), Dr. David Spence saw more
than 1,000 stroke patients in the first
two years of his training alone, and he’s been doing his utmost to prevent
these potentially devastating events
ever since. Before coming to Robarts,
he operated a hypertension clinic that
was instrumental in halving the region’s
stroke rates in the early 80s, and was
the first to report that using ultrasound
imaging to keep tabs on plaque buildup in the main neck artery (carotid) was
a far more powerful predictor of stroke
than conventional risk factors like high
blood pressure and age.
In fact, it was his quest for better
methods of plaque measurement that
brought Dr. Spence to Robarts. “Aaron
Fenster (Robarts scientist and pioneer in 3D ultrasound) came to visit me, and said, ‘I hear you’re interested in
measuring plaque. Would you be
interested in 3D ultrasound?’” Spence
recalls. Shortly thereafter, the Stroke
Prevention and Atherosclerosis
Research Centre (SPARC) opened its
doors. Here, Dr. Spence could deliver
leading-edge preventative care to his
patients, while enlisting other experts’
help in trying to understand why
page 12
treatment for artery disease was failing in about half of cases. “There are fantastic opportunities here to
collaborate with scientists who are
tops in the world at what they do,” Dr. Spence stresses. “I’m just a doctor,
but we have 5,000 patients with plaque
measurements, and I can find out
incredible things about their arteries by
working with Aaron Fenster, and I can find
out incredible things about their genes by
working with Rob Hegele (endocrinologist
and director of the London Regional
Genomics Centre at Robarts).”
And so he has. For starters, Spence
and Fenster proved 3D ultrasound could
gauge the effectiveness of arteryclearing medications in a much shorter
time, using far fewer patients, than other
methods for measuring artery thickness
– a finding that could reduce the cost of
drug studies ten-fold. Dr. Spence also
discovered he could identify the small
minority (5 per cent) of patients with
carotid artery narrowing but no
symptoms who could benefit from
artery-opening surgery using transcranial
Doppler ultrasound, a technology that
detects tiny plaque fragments in the
brain arteries called microemboli
breaking off the artery wall. As it turned
out, patients with no microemboli ran a
mere 1 per cent chance of stroke within
one year, versus 15 per cent for
individuals who experienced
these microemboli. That meant
for the latter group, the risk of
stroke far outweighed that of
the operation, but low-risk
patients could be spared the
potential hazards of surgery.
The latter study led to
another, intended to look for
differences in genetic make-up
and immune response between
people with microemboli and those
without. But when the scientists
started searching, suddenly, the plaque
fragments were few and far between.
What had changed? Having found
that patients whose carotid plaque
continued growing despite treatment
were twice as likely to have strokes or
heart attacks compared to individuals
whose plaques stayed stable or shrank,
Dr. Spence had begun treating the first
group much more aggressively. “We
switched from treating risk factors to treating arteries,” he explains. “If
somebody has a lot of plaque, and it’s
getting worse, I’m going to intensify
their therapy, no matter how low their
cholesterol level is.”
Was this new paradigm responsible
for the disappearance of microemboli?
To find out, the scientists dug into Dr. Spence viewing ultrasound artery images with Maria Dicicco, Doppler Technician (SPARC).
Dr. Spence’s records. What they
unearthed was astounding. Before the
change was implemented, 12.6 per cent
of patients with asymptomatic carotid
artery narrowing had microemboli;
afterwards, only 3.7 per cent did. The
two-year rates of heart attack, stroke, death and carotid artery surgery had
also plummeted – from 17.6 per cent to 5.2 per cent. To prove Dr. Spence’s
approach works, the scientists are
planning to launch a randomized trial,
which, if successful, would
revolutionize the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers also believe that
careful genetic analysis of patients with
much more, or much less, plaque buildup than expected based on age and
risk profile could uncover both new
causes of artery disease, and new
treatments. And once promising
therapies are identified, “we’ll be able
to use these plaque measurements to
move them out of animal models and
into humans,” says Dr. Spence.
Such developments would
undoubtedly rewrite the fates of
countless individuals, just as Dr. Spence’s
care has already done for thousands of
others, like Richard Shroyer, 70. Despite
exemplary health habits, seven years ago,
the professor emeritus of philosophy
and literature suffered a series of small strokes, placing him at a 30 per cent
risk of having another within five years.
Fortunately, he was referred to Dr. Spence, who used plaque monitoring
to fine-tune Shroyer’s treatment regimen.
Fit and healthy, not only has Shroyer not
experienced another stroke, “but my
plaque has actually decreased,” he says. “I must have a metabolism that’s trying
to kill me on one hand – and Dr. Spence
is working to save me on the other!”
SPARC – Stroke Prevention and
Atherosclerosis Research Centre
SPARC is a clinical research unit at Robar ts focused on
broadening the understanding of the causes of strokes and
hear t attacks and developing new treatments for stroke
and hear t attack prevention.
page 13
Robarts
CHRISTIANE MALLETT, 1st YEAR PhD
Supervised by scientist Paula Foster, PhD,
Christiane’s research involves immunotherapy
for treating prostate cancer, using a type of
immune cell called natural killer cells. She labels
these cells with iron particles and uses magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) to track how they
behave when injected into animal models with
cancer. A graduate student in the Schulich
School of Medicine & Dentistry’s Department of Medical Biophysics, she is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada
Graduate Scholarship. While completing her
undergraduate degree at the University of
Guelph, Christiane was part of a research team
that analyzed data from the Mars Exploration
Rover, uncovering evidence of water bound in Martian rocks.
JEFF BAX, 3rd YEAR PhD
Jeff’s current research interests are in the field of surgical
robotics and the development of equipment for cancer
diagnosis and treatment, working with scientist Aaron Fenster,
PhD. Currently pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at
Western, he is supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship
from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Before coming to Robarts, Jeff worked for 11 years designing and fabricating custom equipment for
customers such as the United States Military and the European Space Agency.
SONALI DE CHICKERA, 2nd YEAR MSc
With scientist Greg Dekaban, PhD, Sonali is working to enhance the efficacy of dendritic cell-based breast cancer
vaccines. Specifically, she is refining methods to track the
migration of these cells safely and non-invasively using MRI and improving the migration and function of dendritic cells in order to target and kill breast cancer cells. A Master’s student in Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s Department of
Anatomy and Cell Biology, Sonali receives support from the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Master’s Award)
and is the recipient of a Translational Breast Cancer
Research Trainee Studentship.
RAUL RUPSINGH, final year MSc
and STEPHEN BEATH, MSc ‘09
After watching their parents and grandparents
struggle to surf the net and send emails, Raul and
Stephen developed software to make computers
easier for seniors. Last fall, the medical biophysics
graduate students at Schulich Medicine &
Dentistry – founders of PointerWare Innovations
Ltd. (formerly SoftShell Computers) – appeared
on CBC’s entrepreneurial reality show Dragons’
Den. The Dragons offered them an investment of
$200,000 for 50 per cent of the company, but the
pair turned the offer down and decided to go on
their own. Since then, their software has been
adopted at several retirement home chains in
Canada and continues to be downloaded by
families around the world.
Working with scientist Rob Bartha, PhD, Raul’s research involves the use of magnetic
resonance spectroscopy to detect chemical
changes in the brain of elderly patients with
Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment.
Stephen completed his MSc in March 2009 under the supervision of scientist Ian Cunningham, PhD. His thesis research involved
improving the capabilities of a
novel prototype computed
tomography (CT) scanner. This
CT system uses coherently
scattered x-rays to provide
images of medical specimens,
such as kidney stones.
JEFF BAX
RAUL R
UPSINGH
STUDENTS MATTER
SON
ALI DE CHICKERA
STEPHEN BEATH
PIYA LAHIRY, 3rd YEAR MD/PhD
Under the PhD research supervision of Dr. Robert Hegele, Piya has helped report ECO, a rare lethal neonatal condition
found in an isolated Amish population, and its genetic cause. She is currently focusing on the molecular pathway of this gene
to gain insight into human and organ development. Since 2007,
she has been receiving trainee support from the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Strategic Training Program in
Vascular Research and, in 2008, was awarded the CIHR Scriver
Family MD/PhD Scholarship. She is one of 15 candidates in
Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s elite MD/PhD program.
TT
CHRIS
TIANE MALLE
PIYA LAHIRY
page 14
page 15
Robarts
A group at Robarts is combining advanced imaging and molecular and cellular biology to plumb the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease and develop potential treatments.
fighting the mind thief:
detecting and treating
alzheimer’s
By Pat Morden
page 16
The goal: a manageable
chronic disease
Nearly half a million Canadians over 65
have Alzheimer’s or a related dementia.
To date, there is no cure and only a
few medications to treat symptoms.
But thanks to researchers at Robarts
Research Institute and elsewhere, we
are moving inexorably toward a time
when Alzheimer’s will be managed as a
slow-moving chronic disease.
Both Jane Rylett, PhD, and Rob
Bartha, PhD, members of a unique
interdisciplinary team focused on
Alzheimer’s at Robarts, have personal
experience of the disease. Bartha’s
grandmother-in-law had Alzheimer’s
when she died, and Rylett recently
lost her father to it. “When I saw this
happening to my father, I understood
exactly what was happening to his
brain,” says Rylett. “It was still very
hard to deal with.”
page 17
Robarts
(continued from previous page)
The writer Pat Morden with her father John (1957).
Remembering...
My father was a university professor. He valued
intellect above everything. He read voraciously and
omnivorously. He was a man of boundless curiosity
with a steel-trap mind for trivia. He quizzed us at
the dinner table and was both disappointed and
triumphant when we couldn’t answer his questions.
When he retired, he kept busy writing an account
of his wartime experiences. Then things began to
change. We noticed that the brilliant mathematician
could no longer complete his personal income tax
form. He began to wake up from his frequent naps
confused and anxious, especially if my mother wasn’t in
the house. Finally after a routine surgical procedure he
began to hallucinate. He was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease.
Our family is not unusual, of course. Most have
been touched by this terrible disease - a disease that
gradually robs people of their memories, language,
judgement, reasoning and control over physical
functions. I remember sitting with my Dad once
while he chatted cheerfully, substituting nonsense words
for the ones he could no longer remember. We laughed
and he laughed too, delighted that his conversation was
amusing us. That was one of the good days.
For most of his career, my father worked at The University of Western Ontario, in a building just across campus from Robarts. It’s good to know his
fellow scientists are working toward treatments that
will someday give people like him more years of productive and dignified life.
page 18
Interdisciplinary expertise
Bartha started his academic career in applied physics at the University of Waterloo. A work term at the London
Regional Cancer Centre convinced him to focus on medical
biophysics. “I was interested in being able to apply what we
do in physics to helping people,” he says. “I like the human
element.” He did a PhD in medical biophysics at Western,
and then completed postdoctoral fellowships at Robarts and the University of Minnesota.
Rylett’s background combines an undergraduate degree in physiology and pharmacology and a PhD in pharmacology
with postdoctoral work in molecular and cellular biochemistry.
She once considered a career in medicine but found she
couldn’t give up research. “I’ve always liked the idea of
attacking questions and finding information that can be
translated into something with the potential to improve
human health.”
Rylett came to Robarts in the early 1980s to take up a research fellowship, and stayed on to work with
outstanding collaborators on a variety of groundbreaking
studies. She and her colleagues have made important
discoveries about the specific neurochemical changes that cause damage in Alzheimer’s and what the brain does to protect itself.
Bartha felt the magnetic pull of the Robarts 4 Tesla (4T) MRI system, the first of its kind in Canada, and an
internationally-renowned imaging group. Shortly after
coming to Robarts, Bartha met Dr. Michael Borrie, a
geriatrician on the frontlines of Alzheimer’s treatment, and started using advanced imaging to look at disease
progression.
The imaging team has now traded in their 4T MRI for a 7T head-only system, and a 3T full-body system. The 7T
produces sharper and more detailed images of the brain
structures and supports functional MRI (the imaging of blood
flow in the brain to see which parts are active) and Bartha’s
specialty, MR spectroscopy (MRS). MRS is a technique that
provides information about the biochemical processes by
picking up signals from metabolites in living tissue.
Bartha and Rylett are bringing their perspectives on
Alzheimer’s together with those of other outstanding
Robarts researchers. The team includes John MacDonald,
PhD, a physiologist and pharmacologist and Director of the
Institute, Dr. Stephen Pasternak, a leading cell biologist,
Marco Prado, PhD, and Vania Prado, PhD, molecular
neuroscientists with special expertise in the development
of genetically-modified mouse models, Dr. Robert Hegele,
an endocrinologist and scientific director of the London
Regional Genomics Centre at Robarts, and Ting-Yim Lee,
PhD, a top imaging scientist.
Early detection
and intervention
Alzheimer’s is actually a spectrum of
disorders, making it difficult to nail
down a single cause or cure. It works
slowly in the brain over many years. By
the time most people are diagnosed
the damage is already significant. That’s
why the group at Robarts is focusing its
attention on early detection. “If we can
diagnose it early, we can work on
protecting the nerve cells and changing
the natural course of the disease,” says
Rylett. “That would make an enormous
difference to the burden on individuals
Tracking the path
of the mind thief
Bartha uses MRS to monitor the
effectiveness of potential treatments. He
also uses the technique in the search for
early changes in metabolism that might
indicate Alzheimer’s is underway. This is
where his work dovetails with Rylett’s.
When Bartha picks up chemical
signatures in the cells most often
involved in Alzheimer’s, Rylett and her
colleagues continue to study them in cell
cultures and animal models. Ultimately,
the goal is to understand the underlying
mechanism and find a way to alter it.
advances in Alzheimer’s. “Being able to collaborate with clinicians and
outstanding imagers like Rob, and to have the breadth and depth of
expertise in cellular and molecular
neuroscience offers a huge scope,” she says. Bartha agrees. “With this team
of people, we can move in completely
new directions. It simply wouldn’t be
possible without the researchintensive, interdisciplinary culture of this place – we’re all in the same
building, interacting with one another
on a regular basis.”
and caregivers, and on the health
system.” Adds Bartha: “If we can
develop medications that prevent
degeneration, we want to use them on
people before cognitive decline has
started.”
One hope for early detection,
Bartha believes, is ventricle volume.
The ventricle, a portion of the brain
that contains spinal fluid rather than
brain tissue, expands as the brain
shrinks with Alzheimer’s. Bartha
helped develop a way to measure
ventricle volume as a potential biomarker for Alzheimer’s and continues
to work on a more sensitive measure
of volume that might help identify the
disease before memory loss and other
clinical symptoms appear.
The group is taking a close look at proteins like amyloid, the chief
ingredient in Alzheimer’s plaques,
acetycholine, which appears to protect
against cell death, and N-acetylaspartate
and glutamate, both of which decrease
in the brain during Alzheimer’s.
Bartha is developing novel contrast
agents that can be used to help pinpoint
specific biochemical changes with MRS.
He is also working toward the goal of
imaging the distinctive plaques that
accumulate in the brain during
Alzheimer’s. He points out that
identifying bio-markers for Alzheimer’s
and improving imaging will make it easier
and faster to test new treatments, too.
Rylett says Robarts is uniquely
positioned to make significant
Picture left: Jane Rylett, PhD, and Rob Bartha, PhD
Pictured above: MRI image of the human brain.
Superimposed on the image in yellow is a 3D rendering
of the brain ventricles, fluid filled spaces that increase in
volume as the brain shrinks away with Alzheimer’s.
The writer, Pat Morden, holds a BA from The University
of Western Ontario and a Master’s from the University
of Sussex. A professional writer for more than 20 years,
she currently operates a corporate communication
consultancy with her partner Max. Her father, Professor
John Henry Blackwell, completed his PhD at Western after
World War II and was a professor of Applied Mathematics
there for many years. He died in January 1999.
page 19
Robarts
Scientist Survey
10 Questions for a Robarts ResearchER High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects one in five Canadians and is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Although medications are available to
control high blood pressure, researchers still do not fully understand what causes it.
That’s the goal of Robarts scientist Rob Gros, PhD. Having discovered that people
with hypertension possess increased levels of the protein GRK-2, Gros is
determined to understand why. “If we can figure out what went wrong in a
hypertensive blood vessel to increase the amount of GRK-2 protein, then in theory we should be able to correct it.”
1 Why did you become
a scientist?
As a kid, I always enjoyed playing with
my chemistry set and my microscope.
When I was six, my Oma died suddenly
from cardiac arrest while I was visiting
her at the hospital. It was one of those
moments that inspired me to pursue a
career in medical research.
2 Why Robarts?
Many moons ago I was a student at
Robarts working in what was then the
Clinical Pharmacology Group. I was so
impressed with the research and loved
the collaborative nature of Robarts,
I knew someday I would like to come
back and be a scientist here.
3 What is your ultimate
research goal?
To lessen the burden of hypertension,
either by finding better medications
and/or a cure.
4 How would you describe
your team at Robarts?
Like family. Some of the staff I have
currently working with me, I met or
worked with when I was a student.
5 W
hat quality do you most
admire in a scientist?
I really admire those who find the
perfect balance between their research
lives and their home lives.
page 20
6 W
hich talent would you
most like to have?
Being able to play any musical
instrument, particularly the trumpet
and piano.
7 Who do you admire most?
My parents, for having the courage
to leave all of their family behind and
immigrate to Canada from The
Netherlands with three young children.
8 What is your motto?
“Don’t give up” and “Keep the fire
in your belly burning.”
9 Ishypertension mostly
nature or nurture?
Hypertension is a complex disease.
Unfortunately, most of us will develop
hypertension at some point in our
lifetime. It’s a growing worldwide
problem, however rates of
hypertension are higher in some
populations than others. Both ethnic
and genetic factors play an important
role, but environmental and
psychosocial factors do as well.
10 What was your blood
pressure reading today?
It was 125/77 this morning, but
that’s after getting three kids ready
and out the door! Like most people,
it fluctuates. I am sure that around
the stressful grant writing season it
will be running higher again.
CUDDY WING
RE-DEDICATED IN
MAC’S HONOUR
The A. M. Cuddy garden flourishes – like the thriving medical imaging research Mac’s generous gift supports
Fourteen years ago A. M. (Mac) Cuddy donated $1 million to
establish the A.M. Cuddy Wing at Robarts. As a result, the
Institute was able to recruit world-class imaging scientists
and obtain some of the most powerful MRI
technology in the world. On June 1, the Cuddy
family, and Mac’s friends and former colleagues,
came together to celebrate his life and his gift
during a rededication ceremony.
The garden outside the Cuddy Wing has been named the A.M. Cuddy Garden, “honouring a man who demanded excellence and advanced
medical discovery at Robarts.” Michael Pascoe,
former head gardener of the Cuddy estate and
current director of the Horticulture Program at
Fanshawe College, worked with Western’s Jim
Galbraith to take cuttings from the Cuddy estate
garden and incorporate them into the garden at Robarts.
Mac Cuddy was a resourceful and determined man who
became a champion of industry while leading Cuddy Farms.
What started as a small family business revolutionized
poultry farming around the globe. By 1990, one out of every
five turkeys in the world was hatched from a Cuddy egg.
When diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Mac knew medical
research couldn’t help him, but that someday it might
help others. By donating a gift of life insurance, he
enabled Robarts to establish Canada’s premier
medical imaging centre and through that has
affected the lives of countless people.
In 2007, Ontario’s Ministry of Research &
Innovation provided $12 million for renovations to
the Cuddy Wing to accommodate two new MRI
machines, a 3 Tesla magnet and a 7 Tesla magnet.
These magnets are some of the most powerful in
Canada and represent the future of medical imaging.
Mac Cuddy once said, “If you can’t see it, you
can’t fix it.” Because of his vision and generosity,
Robarts scientists can now look more closely at diseases
like multiple sclerosis, depression, autism, Alzheimer’s and
stroke, moving them closer than ever to the next medical
research breakthrough.
page 21
Robarts
FERGUSONS
DONATE $50,000
TO BARNETT
CHAIR
Dr. Gary and Mrs. Mary Ferguson
Dr. Gary and Mrs. Mary Ferguson have been strong supporters of Robarts since its founding, and their gift of $50,000 to the
Barnett Chair is a testament to their close relationship with Dr. Henry Barnett (“Barney”).
Dr. Ferguson’s connection to Robarts spans several decades,
beginning in 1986 with his involvement in the landmark NASCET
(North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial)
study that put Robarts on the map. He is also Past Chair of
Robarts Council.
“Mary and I are pleased to support the Kathleen and Dr. Henry Barnett Chair in Stroke Research, which
honours the memory of Kay Barnett and the remarkable
achievements of Dr. Barnett,” says Dr. Ferguson. “As well,
we are happy to support Robarts, of which Dr. Barnett
was the founding scientific director, and in turn,
Western, our alma mater.”
Dr. Ferguson is a retired neurosurgeon and former Chief of Neurosurgery at London Health
Sciences Centre. He received his MD from Western
in 1965, and was a neurosurgery professor at
Western. He is recognized internationally as a leader
in stroke prevention surgery and is one of only eight
neurosurgeons in Canada cited in the widely quoted
publication Best Doctors of America.
Dr. Barnett is a skilled neurologist and dedicated
researcher and his late wife Kay was a registered nurse
and a steadfast supporter of his work, and that of
countless medical students and researchers she hosted
and encouraged throughout her life.
In addition to honouring this dynamic and generous couple, the Chair will boost Robarts’ research strengths and expand the scope of its national and international influence on the
prevention and treatment of stroke. As a clinician-scientist, the
Chair will also be a member of the Schulich School of Medicine
& Dentistry’s Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences. The Chair will continue the legacy of evidence-based medicine
exemplified by Dr. Barnett and will lead to advances in the
prevention and treatment of stroke, while translating that
research into clinical application.
Robarts Council (2009-2010)
Community leaders from the public
and private sectors, Robarts Council
members act as Institute ambassadors,
establishing valuable connections with
those individuals and organizations that
support the Institute’s quest to improve
human health.
page 22
Kirk Baines
Ian Bandeen
Dr. Henry J.M. Barnett
John Calvert
Alice Daniel
Dr. Gary Ferguson
(Past Chair)
Ann Fleming
George Khoury
Mark Krembil
Stacey Krembil
William Manderson
D. Walter McCormick
Steve Paikin
Norm Puhl
Dr. Cecil Rorabeck (Chair)
Seanna Ross
Rod Skinkle
Dr. Calvin R. Stiller
Gregg Szabo
George S. Taylor
Colin D. Walker
Lucille Wolf
The
Gene
Hunter
Needles in a haystack are no match for Robarts endocrinologist Dr. Robert Hegele.
He was the first in the world to identify genes causing 12 different human diseases, including familial type 2
diabetes and several forms of elevated cholesterol. No small
feat considering each discovery requires finding a single
mutation in the human genome, composed of three billion
letters of code.
Dr. Hegele, who holds the Martha G. Blackburn Chair in Cardiovascular Research and is the Edith Schulich Vinet
Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics, is a physician and
is among the top one per cent of highly cited scientists in
the world. “Being both a physician and a scientist has helped
me provide better care for my patients.”
He also directs the London Regional Genomics Centre, a city-wide partnership with the core research facility
located at Robarts. Each year, more than 165 scientists and collaborators from around the world use its services,
producing more than 100,000 data sets which are examined
for disease-causing genetic mutations. Knowing these
mutations can help doctors make earlier diagnoses and
better treatment decisions for their patients.
Recently, the Genomics Centre was ranked fourth in the world out of more than 400 laboratories in terms of
quality of DNA sequencing results and length of code
deciphered. Only labs at the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of human
genome sequencing, placed ahead of the Centre.
“For me, one of the advantages of conducting research
at Robarts is having world-class laboratories in such close
proximity to my clinic,” says Dr. Hegele. “The reduced layers
of separation between bedside and lab bench is unique
among Canadian research institutes.”
page 23
Robarts
Institute News
2009 J. Allyn Taylor
International Prize
in Medicine
This year’s recipient of the J. Allyn Taylor International
Prize in Medicine is Dr. Garret
FitzGerald, a world-renowned
cardiovascular researcher and McNeil Professor in
Translational Medicine and
Therapeutics at the University
of Pennsylvania.
Dr. FitzGerald chairs the Department of Pharmacology at UPenn and directs the Institute for Translational Medicine and
Therapeutics there. His work contributed substantially to the
development of low dose aspirin for the prevention of heart
disease and was the first to predict and explain the cardiovascular
hazard from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
First awarded in 1985 to Dr. Jean F. Borel for his discovery that
cyclosporin can prevent and treat organ rejection in transplant
patients, the Taylor Prize annually recognizes the world’s leading
medical researchers. Proudly supported by Robarts and The C. H.
Stiller Memorial Foundation, the $10,000 prize honours the late J. Allyn Taylor, who was founding chair of Robarts, an Officer of
The Order of Canada, a widely-respected Canadian business
leader and close personal friend of the Stiller family.
The prize has celebrated numerous exceptional scientists
who have contributed to the advancement of medical
discovery in the areas of Robarts’ research platforms, including
WESTERN NAMES NEW PRESIDENT
Amit Chakma began a five-year term as
the 10th President of The University of
Western Ontario on July 1, succeeding
Paul Davenport who completed 15 years
of service. Chakma comes to Western
from the University of Waterloo, where
he was Vice-President, Academic &
Provost, and a professor in the
Department of Chemical Engineering.
“Our board believes that Dr. Chakma’s
page 24
Robarts’ founding scientific director Dr. Henry Barnett, who
discovered aspirin could be taken as a preventative therapy for
heart attack and stroke, Drs. Craig Venter and Eric Lander, who
were instrumental in mapping the human genome, and Dr.
Roger Tsien who in 2008 won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Dr. FitzGerald will deliver an address at a “Celebration of
Science” dinner on Wednesday, November 4 at The Great Hall
at The University of Western Ontario. The evening is hosted by
Western alumna and CTV News medical specialist Avis Favaro. The dinner follows the Taylor Prize Symposium the same day, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Auditorium A, London Health Sciences
Centre, where Dr. FitzGerald will also speak. For more
information, please call Linda Chapman at 519-931-5205.
CREATING THE NEXT
GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS
Robarts scientist Mel Goodale, PhD, has been awarded $1.65 million from the new Collaborative Research and
Training Experience (CREATE) Program. Launched by the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada (NSERC) in 2008, CREATE gives science and
engineering graduates the enhanced skills they need for
careers in industry, government or academia. The funding
will support Goodale’s “Computational Approaches to
Sensorimotor Tranformations for the Control of Action”
project. “We see this as an opportunity to train the next
generation of neuroscientists in computational modeling of
how the brain selects and controls skilled movements,” says
Goodale, Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience.
experience, passion and vision make him
the perfect choice to lead Western at
this time in our history,” says Michelle
Noble, Chair of Western’s Board of
Governors. On May 29, Chakma visited
Robarts, toured several labs, and met
with scientists including Dr. Rob Hegele
in the London Regional Genomics
Centre, David Hess, PhD, in the Krembil
Centre for Stem Cell Research, and Aaron Fenster, PhD, in Imaging.
Left to right: Robarts scientist Aaron Fenster, Amit Chakma,
Western’s new President, and Jeff Bax, PhD student
CFI FUNDING
Funding announced from the Canada
Foundation for Innovation (CFI) in June
included $17.5 million for researchers at Western. Among them is Robarts
scientist Terry Peters, PhD, whose study
on Image-Guided Minimally Invasive
Intervention and Simulation received
$2.5 million. This project brings together
the research within the Robarts Imaging
Laboratories and the Canadian Surgical
Technologies and Advanced Robotics
(CSTAR) centre. Its aim is to advance the
technologies that will permit surgery to
be performed at multiple sites within
the body, guided by medical imaging
and executed by remotely actuated
miniature surgical tools, while accessing
the sites from small incisions in the
patient’s skin, or via natural body orifices.
Robarts scientists Aaron Fenster, PhD and
Dr. David Spence also received funding.
Their project is a collaboration based out
of the University of Montreal studying
communication and imaging
infrastructure for the Canadian
Atherosclerosis Imaging Network (CAIN).
ROBARTS IN THE RUNNING
Western may be in line to receive two
of Canada’s largest and most prestigious
research grants. The Canada Excellence
Research Chairs (CERC) program was
introduced last year by the Government
of Canada and in April it was announced
that 40 proposals from universities
across Canada, including two from
Western, made the shortlist. Each Chair will bring $10 million in funding
(over seven years) to be used to attract a world-class researcher.
Western’s Cognitive Neuroscience and
Imaging Chair proposal has a strong
Robarts connection. Over the last seven
years Western has invested more than
$11.4 million in infrastructure for the
creation and support of the Centre for
Brain and Mind – administered jointly by the Faculty of Social Science and the Schulich School of Medicine &
Dentistry, and featuring Robarts and its Centre for Functional and Metabolic
Mapping. More than 130 CERC
submissions were received from
Canadian universities and just 40 were
given the go-ahead to bring forward
world-leading candidates for
consideration by the CERC selection
board, which will then identify 20
candidates for funding. Chairs will be
announced by the fall of 2010.
$500,000
GRANT FOR
PRION DISEASE
WORK
PrioNet Canada, a network of
centres of
excellence for
research into prions and prion
diseases, has awarded Robarts
neurobiologist Marco Prado, PhD,
$499,648 to further his research on
the prion protein. A prion is a class of protein found in the brains of
mammals that, when altered, is
believed to cause various infectious
diseases of the nervous system like
bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
also known as BSE or mad cow
disease, in cattle, and CreutzfeldtJakob disease in humans.
MORE PRESENCE ON THE WEB
Robarts is now on Twitter, a free
social networking service allowing
people and organizations to stay
connected through the exchange of
brief messages, known as ‘tweets’. Be the first to receive information on research discoveries, news and
events at Robarts by signing up at
twitter.com/robartsresearch.
You can now watch Robarts videos as part of Western’s YouTube page. The Robarts playlist includes videos on
stroke research, cancer treatment, early
diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and many
other discoveries. Visit youtube.com
and search “Robarts Research Institute”.
page 25
Robarts
Outside
the Lab
Maria Drangova first tried pottery in 1993 – inspired in part by her PhD supervisor, Robarts Scientist Aaron Fenster. An avid potter, she’s now on a mission to share her passion with others.
After taking pottery classes at Western, and honing her skills in her spare time while completing her postdoctoral fellowship
at Stanford University, Drangova returned to Robarts in 1997,
and joined the London Potters Guild.
“I believe that access to hands-on artistic facilities enhances
a community’s desirability, and I wanted to help establish a
place in London where anyone could try working with clay.”
Several fellow guild members shared her vision and soon a vacant building on Dundas Street was purchased, becoming
the birthplace of the London Clay Art Centre.
Drangova has been helping to bring the centre to life, doing everything from writing grants and raising funds to
tearing down walls and planning geothermal heating systems.
Thanks to the dedication of volunteers like Drangova, the
London Clay Art Centre is expected to open its doors later this
fall. Recently, it was awarded the Urban League of London’s
Green Brick Award, recognizing developments that take
community concerns into account.
The focus of Drangova’s research at Robarts is developing and evaluating imaging techniques for the diagnosis and
treatment of cardiac diseases.
She completed her undergraduate degree at the
University of Toronto and her MSc degree with Robarts
scientist Terry Peters at McGill University before receiving her PhD from Western.
“Potting is a relaxing activity and focuses your mind so much,
it is almost meditative,” Drangova says. “I love its controlled
unpredictability. When I work with clay, it just flows.”
page 26
Awards and Accolades
Robarts Scientists
WESTERN HONOURS FEAGAN
WITH TOP RESEARCH PRIZE
Henry J. Barnett M
D, FRCPC, FACP –
Dr. Brian Feagan, Robarts Director of Clinical Trials (above centre), was
honoured as one of two recipients of this year’s Hellmuth Prize for
Achievement in Research. The prize
recognizes University of Western
Ontario faculty members with
international reputations for their
research contributions and is named
for Bishop Isaac Hellmuth, one of
Western’s founders and a pioneer of higher education in Canada.
BARNETT FIRST OUTSIDE EUROPE
TO RECEIVE KAROLINSKA AWARD
Robarts founding
scientific director Dr. Henry Barnett
was awarded the
Karolinska Stroke
Award for
Excellence in
Stroke Research
last November.
The prize is awarded annually by the
Karolinska Institute in Sweden, which
also awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Barnett is the first non-European to
receive this prestigious award.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
AWARD FOR DUPRÉ
Robarts scientist Dr. John Dupré has
been awarded the 2008 Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Canadian
Diabetes Association. Established in
2007, the award recognizes Canadian
achievement for a lifetime commitment
to research excellence and is bestowed
upon a prominent Canadian MD or PhD
medical scientist who is recognized and
nominated by his or her peers for longstanding contribution to the Canadian
diabetes community and is a leader in diabetes research. This award recognizes
Dr. Dupré’s significant
contribution of more
than 40 years to
diabetes research and
clinical practice in Canada.
SCIENTISTS NAMED FELLOWS
OF THE CANADIAN ACADEMY
OF HEALTH SCIENCES
Dr. David Spence and Murray Huff, PhD,
have recently been inducted as Fellows
of the Canadian Academy of Health
Sciences. Election to Fellowship in the
Academy is considered one of the
highest honours for individuals in the
Canadian health sciences community
and carries with it a covenant to serve
the Academy and the future wellbeing
of the health sciences irrespective of
the Fellow’s specific discipline.
DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY
PROFESSORSHIP FOR STRONG
Robarts scientist Dr. Michael Strong has
been awarded a 2009 Distinguished
University Professorship, acknowledging
sustained excellence in scholarship over
a substantial career at Western. The
award includes a citation, the right to
use the title, an opportunity for a public
lecture and a $10,000 prize to be used
for scholarly activity at any time.
Founding Scientific Director
Rob Bartha PhD
Derek Boughner MD, PhD, FRCP
Arthur Brown PhD
Sean Cregan PhD
Ian Cunningham PhD, FCCPM
Gregory Dekaban PhD
Terry Delovitch PhD
Maria Drangova PhD
John Dupré MD, FRCP, FRCPC, FACP
Stefan Everling PhD, MSc, BSc
Brian Feagan MD
Ross Feldman MD, FRCPC, FAC
Aaron Fenster PhD, FCCPM
Stephen Ferguson PhD
Paula Foster PhD
Robert Gros PhD
Melvyn Goodale PhD, FRSC
Daniel Hackam MD, PhD, FRCPC
Robert Hegele MD, FRCPC, FACP
David Hess PhD
David Holdsworth PhD
Murray Huff PhD
Ting-Yim Lee PhD, FCCPM
Wei-Yang Lu MD, PhD
John MacDonald PhD, FRSC
Joaquin Madrenas MD, PhD
Jeff Mahon MD, FRCPC
Susan Meakin PhD
Ravi Menon PhD
Grace Parraga PhD
Steve Pasternak MD, CM, PhD
Terry Peters PhD, FCCPM
J. Geoffrey Pickering MD, PhD, FRCPC
Michael Poulter PhD
Marco Prado PhD
Vania Prado PhD
Jane Rylett PhD
Giles Santyr PhD
Caroline Schild-Poulter PhD
Bhagirath Singh PhD
David Spence MD, FRCPC
Michael Strong MD, FRCPC
Lynne Weaver DVM, PhD
James White MD, PhD
Cindy Wong MSc
GuangYong Zou PhD
page 27
Robarts
Who says
it’s impossible to
read minds?
Scientists at Robarts Research Institute are leading the way in finding
better diagnoses, treatments and cures for devastating diseases such
as Alzheimer’s, mental illness and stroke. Understanding how the
brain functions is key, and with some of the most powerful brain
imaging technology in the world, Robarts is closer than ever to
solving these and other mysteries of the mind.
Learn more about research
at Robarts and how Western
is shaping the future of
health care, wellness and
medical discovery.
westernmakesadifference.ca