Projects receive grants to probe fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Montreal, QC – The first annual round of grants awarded for research, prevention and treatment of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) have been announced by Dr Louise Nadeau, professor at the Universite de Montreal and scientific director of the Centre Dollard-Cormier, University Institute on Dependencies on behalf of the Canadian Foundation on Fetal Alcohol Research (CFFAR).

Created in September 2007 through a 5-year $1 million commitment by the Brewers Association of Canada (BAC), the CFFAR is an independent, non-profit foundation created to promote interest and fund research related to the short and long-term bio-medical, psychological and social effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and the prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

The inaugural research grants were selected after a peer-review of applications. The 2008 grant recipients are:

– Dr Joanne Weinberg and Dr L Galea, University of British Columbia, for the research project titled “Vulnerability to addiction: Effect of prenatal alcohol exposure and stress”

– Dr Joanne Rovet, University of Toronto, Hospital for Sick Children. Her research project is titled “Mapping memory function in FASD”.

– Dr Joey Gareri, PhD candidate, Janine Hutson, MD and PhD candidate, University of Toronto. Their work is titled “The Association between fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium and the diagnosis of FAEE in an at-risk Canadian population”.