New frontiers in neurodegenerative disease research: A Temerty Medicine Talk
Each year, millions of people around the world are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases. While no cures and few treatments for these devastating conditions currently exist, researchers continue to make strides towards unlocking the secrets to managing — or even preventing — these diseases in the future.
In this next offering in our popular Temerty Medicine Talks series, join the Globe and Mail’s André Picard in conversation with leading U of T scientists and clinicians as they discuss the remarkable advances that have been made in our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as the early promise of high-potential research underway today.
LMP speakers
Dr. Lorraine Kalia, Scientist, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Professor Kalia is a senior scientist with the University Health Network’s Krembil Brain Institute, as well as a staff neurologist in Toronto Western Hospital’s Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic and Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson's Disease. Her clinical work and research program focus on Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders. With an eye always on patient care and outcomes, she heads a research team focused on better understanding the critical molecular mechanisms responsible for neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease, and how they can be targeted to discover new treatments.
Dr. Janice Robertson, Scientist, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Professor Robertson holds the James Hunter Family Chair in ALS Research at the University of Toronto and was a prior recipient of a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) and Premiers Research Excellence Award. As a molecular cell biologist, she focuses her lab-based research on the pathomechanisms underlying neurodegeneration in ALS and the associated disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Her work includes assessment of clinical specimens through her close collaboration with the ALS Clinic at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Other speakers
Dr. Graham Collingridge, Director and Krembil Family Chair in Alzheimer's Research, Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Professor, Department of Physiology
Professor Collingridge is an affiliated scientist at the Krembil Research Institute and a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital. His research focuses on brain mechanisms that control the strength of brain cell connections, and how this fundamental property (known as synaptic plasticity) affects brain function — advancing understanding of the cellular basis of learning and memory. In 2016 he was a co-recipient of The Brain Prize.
André Picard, Health Columnist, The Globe and Mail
André Picard is one of Canada’s top public policy writers. He is an eight-time National Newspaper Awards nominee and past winner of the prestigious Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism.