Research Highlights

Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform

Ethan Kim (pictured on the left), is a Master's student at the University of Toronto, studying neuroinformatics under Dr. Leon French (pictured on the right) at the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics at CAMH.

Development and application of a laminar-specific gene expression meta-analysis of the primate neocortex ($25,000, 1 year)

The cerebral cortex has a distinct six-layered structure that functions in high-level cognitive functions such as consciousness and perception. The scientific community has made considerable advances in understanding its cellular, molecular and laminar architecture. Improved knowledge of the molecular architecture of the cortex will provide deeper insight into the patterns of neuropsychiatric disorder susceptibility and thus help target future research efforts. Using multiple transcriptomic profiles of the human and primate cortex, we will create an online tool to visualize and examine gene expression across the human and primate brain's cortical layers. We will also test for enrichment of specific molecular functions and disease-associated genes to better understand the roles of each layer in the context of mental health.

Ethan Kim under Leon French's Lab

October 22, 2020

The fabric of the primate neocortex and the origin of mental representations: From transcriptomics to single neurons and neuronal networks ($625,000, 5 years)

A distinctive feature of intelligence is being able to represent objects “in the mind,” without the need to see them directly. The NeuroNex – Working Memory (NXWM) initiative will systematically explore the specializations that allows the brain to produce mental representations. The international, multicentre team – including 16 labs at nine institutions in the U.S., Canada and Germany – will scrutinize for new molecules, cell types and patterns of brain activity and behaviour, then use advanced computational techniques to assemble the knowledge in an integrated quantitative model of “mental brain networks.” CAMH’s Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics will co-develop advanced computational techniques for the initiative.

Amy Arnsten, John Murray, David Lewis, Guillermo Gonzalez-Burgos, Steve McCarroll, Xiao-Jing Wang, Julio Martinez-Trujillo, Lyle Muller, Wataru Inoue, Stefan Everling, Shreejoy Tripathy, Stefan Treue, Jochen Staiger, Andreas Neef and Fred Wolf (Co-PIs)

October 7, 2020

Team Grant - Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience (NeuroNex) Competition

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Shreejoy Tripathy, Independent Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto

2020 Spring Project Grant:

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Dr. Erin Dickie, Project Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, as well as, a cross-appointment with the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics.

Identification of functional connectivity biomarkers of social cognition across schizophrenia and autism:  A longitudinal and dimensional approach ($566,101, 4 years)

Social cognition has emerged as an important predictor of functional outcome in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Even though social cognitive impairments are major drivers of the severe societal and personal impact of these disorders, few treatment options for social deficits are available. This project continues ongoing work that studies social processes in individuals with SSD, ASD and typically developing controls, using a comprehensive battery of social, cognitive, clinical and functional behavioural assessments, and multimodal neuroimaging. The first aim of this study will be to refine “latent” brain-behaviour dimensions cutting across participants with SSD or ASD or typically developing controls. The second aim is to retest a subset of participants and establish whether these proposed underlying dimensions are stable over time. These findings could inform the development of mechanism-based treatments to enhance social cognition and social function in people with SSD or ASD.

Erin Dickie, Colin Hawco and Stephanie Ameis (Co-PIs), Aristotle Voineskos, George Foussias, Meng-Chuan Lai, Anil Malhotra, Robert Buchannan

October 7, 2020