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Collaborative brain research.

Societal impact.

Brain diseases are the leading cause of disability in Canadians with more than 3.6 million Canadians affected by a brain condition. With an aging population, new treatments are desperately needed.

Two of the world’s most accomplished neuroscience research initiatives at McGill and Western University have combined their expertise to convert scientific research to societal impact.

The McGill-Western Initiative for Translational Neuroscience (ITN) brings together world-renowned scientists to work on large-scale research projects. This collaborative work will have immediate impact for patients living with brain diseases and disorders in Canada and around the world.

The ITN is supported by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) through McGill’s Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives and Western’s BrainsCAN initiatives.

The Initiative for Translational Neuroscience is co-governed and co-managed by McGill and Western.

VIEW GOVERNANCE MODEL

Biotherapeutics

Early biomarkers for development and monitoring of effective disease-modifying therapies

Mallar Chakravarty
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Dr. Mallar Chakravarty

Director of the Brain Imaging Centre and the Neuroinformatics Platform at the Douglas Research Centre

Marco Prado
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Dr. Marco Prado

Canada Research Chair in Neurochemistry of Dementia and Professor at Western’s Schulich School for Medicine & Dentistry

Why do so many drug trials for neurodegenerative diseases fail? How can researchers reduce that number?

To make effective decisions about a drug’s potential success in humans, researchers need better ways to evaluate a drug’s performance before it reaches the clinical phase.

In this project, the collaborative team will develop a platform for early drug evaluation that focuses on unique imaging and cognitive biomarkers. Using a platform that works in the preclinical phase, this method will increase the likelihood that early findings will translate to the clinic. These biomarkers will also help identify patients who may benefit most from specific types of drugs.

“Our goal is to establish a novel way to consider the testing of new drugs so that we will be able to identify drugs with best potential for moving to clinical trials in humans.”

– Dr. Mallar Chakravarty

Early drug evaluation method brings revamped effort to brain disease drug discovery

April 11, 2022 - ITN Communications

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Scientific Directors

Dr. Alan Evans

Dr. Alan Evans, PhD, FRSC

Alan Evans is HBHL’s Scientific Director and a James McGill Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Psychiatry and Biomedical Engineering at McGill University since 2009. He is also co-director of the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health, holds the Victor Dahdaleh Chair in Neurosciences at McGilll, is the principal investigator on CBRAIN as well as the sole Canadian participant in the European Human Brain Project, and is a co-principal investigator of the Big Brain project.

Ravi Menon

Dr. Ravi Menon, PhD, FCAHS, FRSC

Ravi Menon is BrainsCAN’s Scientific Co-Director, Director of the Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping (CFMM), former Canada Research Chair in Functional and Molecular Imaging, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, professor of medical biophysics, medical imaging, physics and psychiatry at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, and scientist at Robarts Research Institute.

Lisa Saksida

Dr. Lisa Saksida, PhD, FCAHS, FRSC

Lisa Saksida is BrainsCAN’s Scientific Co-Director, Canada Research Chair in Translational Cognitive Neuroscience, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, CIFAR Fellow in Brain, Mind and Consciousness, WXN Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women 2020, professor of physiology and pharmacology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, and scientist at Robarts Research Institute.

New initiative from McGill and Western translates collaborative brain research into societal impact

April 11, 2022 - ITN Communications

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Governance Model

Initiative Oversight

BrainsCAN
Board of Directors

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HBHL
Board of Directors

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*Replaced by institutional oversight following end of CFREF grants.

Scientific Guidance & Project Oversight

McGill-Western ITN Executive Committee

  • Scientific Director of HBHL/Co-SDs of the McGill-Western ITN
    • Alan Evans
  • Associate Vice-President, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Western University
    • Dave Muir
  • Associate Vice-President Research, Western University
    • Bryan Neff
  • Associate Vice-President, Innovation and Partnerships, McGill University
    • Benoit Boulet
  • Executive Director of BrainsCAN/Co-Executive Director of the McGill-Western ITN
    • Fay Harrison
  • Managing Director of HBHL/Co-Executive Director of the McGill-Western ITN
    • Krystle van Hoof

Innovation and Impact Advisory Board

  • Vice Principal (Research and Innovation), McGill University
    • Martha Crago
  • Vice President Research, Western University
    • Penny Pexman
  • Industry Partners (2)
    • Vacant
  • Academic/translational experts (2)
    • Vacant
  • Patient Representatives (2)
    • Vacant

Operations

Research Management Committee

  • Scientific Director of HBHL/Co-SDs of the McGill-Western ITN (Co-Chair)
    • Alan Evans
  • Scientific Directors of BrainsCAN/Co-SDs of the McGill-Western ITN (Co-Chair)
    • Ravi Menon, Lisa Saksida
  • Executive Director of BrainsCAN/Co-Executive Director of the McGill-Western ITN
    • Fay Harrison
  • Managing Director of HBHL/Co-Executive Director of the McGill-Western ITN
    • Krystle van Hoof
  • PIs of funded projects (2)
    • Mallar Chakravarty, Marco Prado

Management Committee

  • Executive Director of BrainsCAN/Co-Executive Director of the McGill-Western ITN (Co-Chair)
    • Fay Harrison
  • Managing Director of HBHL/Co-Executive Director of the McGill-Western ITN (Co-Chair)
    • Krystle van Hoof
  • Communications Specialists from HBHL and BrainsCAN
    • Hassam Ansari, Maggie MacLellan, Chris Maskell

Stay Updated

The ITN is supported by McGill’s Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives (HBHL) and Western’s BrainsCAN, which are funded through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

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