Rare genetic mutation linked to psychiatric illnesses, obesity聽
B Charlie Fidelman, GAZETTE Health Reporter October 8, 2012聽
MONTREAL 鈥� Grounding chronic illnesses and mental disorders in human DNA is like trying to tease out a giant riddle that鈥檚 complicated by the intricate relationship between biology and behaviour. Hundreds of genes have been associated with psychiatric conditions, some erroneously, and they were not confirmed.
From the lab of CIFAR Fellow Michael Meaney (91社区): Scientists have provided evidence that socioeconomic status affects family function and the development and function of brain regions that are critical for attention, learning and memory. Meaney's lab looks into how parenting produces lasting effects on cognitive and emotional development. His lab examined development in rats and found parental influences on the chemical, or 'epigenetic', signals that control the activity in the brain of genes that influence the connections between brain cells as well as learning and memory.
Ottawa, Ontario (October 1, 2012) 鈥� The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health, joined Tony Boeckh, Chair of the Graham Boeckh Foundation, and Dr. Alain Beaudet, President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), to announce the launch of the new Patient-Oriented Network in Adolescent and Youth Mental Health.
Dr. Suzane Renaud, a clinical psychiatrist from Montreal, Quebec, who specializes in treating bipolar and personality disorders, was inaugurated as President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.
Prior to joining the Douglas Institute where she has worked for the past five years an outpatient clinic, she worked in the Community Mental Health Centre at CHUM's Saint Luc Hospital for over 20 years, principally treating patients with psychotic illnesses.聽 At CHUM she served as both interim Department Chief (2001) and as Service Chief (2004-2006) of General Psychiatry.
Whether it is for research into clean energy sources, the future of wireless communication or a better understanding of the processes involved in language learning, over 160 established 91社区 researchers and more than 80 graduate students will benefit from support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) over the next five years.
