Funded Grants

Stroke is a leading cause of adult long term disability and the third leading cause of death in industrialized countries.

Stroke affects 17% of people worldwide and some estimates predict that it will soon become the most common cause of death worldwide.

The existence of different strains of misshapen proteins in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients is emerging as an obstacle to the development of effective treatments.

This project will use cells found in bone marrow as a potential means of delivering treatments to the diseased area in brain and spinal cord.

In some cases of ALS, it is clear that specific inherited genetic changes (called mutations) can not only cause the disease, but can do so by creating a protein (the end product of genes that actually does a function in our cells) that has an abnormal, toxic function resulting in motor neuron degeneration.

One of the hallmarks of ALS is the presence of abnormal clumps inside motor neurons that contain various substances which include, in the majority of cases, something called TAR DNA–binding protein 43 (TDP-43).

The four most commonly studied ALS proteins are SOD1, TDP-43, FUS and C9ORF72

When cells are under stress, one of the reactions is to form tiny clumps called stress granules that protect important genetic information while protective mechanisms kick in.

The major objectives of this research program are to measure the function of the heart and blood vessels following SCI and to investigate the mechanisms that are responsible for any changes that occur.

The overall goal of this research program is to identify genomic markers that predict small vessel disease of the brain.