$8M program for brain repair research

Montreal, QC November 20, 2003 NeuroScience Canada, a non-profit organization that promotes the advancement of brain research, says it is launching an $8 million brain repair program.

The funding will be formally announced by former federal finance minister, Michael H Wilson, chair of NeuroScience Canada, at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction’s annual general meeting on November 22.

The brain repair program will fund research teams that focus on finding ways to enhance the brain’s ability to be repaired or to repair itself.

NeuroScience Canada was founded in 1997 with the goal of working with other voluntary health organizations and with government to foster the development and financing of collaborative, multi-disciplinary research and development across the full range of neurosciences, and to fill the need for a strong non-governmental voice for the neurosciences.

NeuroScience Canada represents the functional integration of the NeuroScience Canada Partnership (a national, non-profit organization) and the NeuroScience Canada Foundation (a registered charity).

The program was developed by NeuroScience Canada’s science advisory council and is part of a $10-million campaign to support Canada’s world-class neuroscience researchers across disciplines and institutions. The mission of the program is to fast-track basic discovery research in order to develop treatments and therapies more quickly.

“We want to give our researchers every opportunity to make breakthroughs, so that we can alleviate the human, economic and societal costs of brain disorders,” says Mr Wilson.

The brain repair program is being launched with funding provided by private donors as well as the CIHR and its Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction and Institute of Aging. Initially, two teams will receive $1.5 million in equal annual installments over three years with additional funding for networking. Three teams will be added as further funding is secured. The first teams will be identified at the end of June 2004.