AHFMR News
Heritage brain researchers collaborate across Alberta
AHFMR announces major prize to honour Harley Hotchkiss
Mr. Harley Hotchkiss
(Calgary, AB) Friday April 28, 2006... Josh Burns was an active young teen engaged in a variety of sports and extracurricular activities until he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash. Twenty years later, Josh has made a significant recovery, including skiing on the Canadian Paraplegic Ski Team; and he credits much of his recovery to the research being conducted by people like Dr. Sam Weiss and his colleagues at the University of Calgary and across the province. Researchers like Dr. Weiss from the University of Calgary and Dr. Bryan Kolb from the University of Lethbridge are working together to improve research for brain injured patients like Josh.
To help researchers like Drs. Weiss and Kolb, the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) is announcing up to $650,000 for the AHFMR Hotchkiss Provincial Program on Perinatal Determinants of Brain and Mental Health. The new program has been created to recognize the contributions of Mr. Harley Hotchkiss, outgoing AHFMR Chairman and founder of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in Calgary. Led by Dr. Kolb, the Program will bring together researchers from the lab and the clinic, at the Universities of Lethbridge, Calgary and Alberta, to better understand how brain development is affected by perinatal experiences in order to improve the lives of children.
*** A Photo Opportunity with a Researcher and a Patient in a Lab will be Available ***
| What: | Media opportunity to interview Dr. Sam Weiss, Dr. Bryan Kolb with Mr. Josh Byrne (a recovering brain injury patient), Mr. Harley Hotchkiss, and Dr. Kevin Keough | |
| When: | Friday April 28, 2006 | |
| Time: | 11:30 AM * | |
| Where: |
U of C - Health Sciences Centre - Lab 2164 3330 Hospital Dr. NW |
* Please call Dwayne Brunner, AHFMR Communications, at (780) 966-1518 for more information
Backgrounder
The Program in Perinatal Determinants of Brain and Mental Health will bring together researchers from the lab and the clinic to develop a better understanding of how brain development is affected by perinatal experiences - with the hope of improving the lives of children. The program will provide a way for basic researchers, on a common theme, to facilitate their research with student traineeships and enhanced national and international exchanges. The program will also include the stakeholders who are working with affected children in order to foster faster knowledge translation to help the children and parents of today as well as tomorrow. AHFMR will establish the program with $350,000 and match a further $150,000 in contributions for an estimated total of $650,000.
In Canada, more than 500,000 children are estimated to have "activity limiting" disabilities that will impact on their quality of life. The cause of most of these disabilities is unknown but one likely cause is drug use. About 25% of all children born in Canada each year are exposed to nicotine and at least 10% are exposed to alcohol in utero. Roughly 6% of all expectant mothers (about 25,000 women in Canada) use an illicit drug at least once during their pregnancy.
Dr. Sam Weiss is an AHFMR Scientist at the University of Calgary. He discovered stem cells in the developing and adult brain. Nerve cells within the central part of the brain communicate with each other through electrical currents and chemical messengers. These nerve cells, which are key to the normal, healthy operation of the brain and carry information to other areas of the body, are lost in brain injury or disease. Dr. Weiss has proven that these crucial communicators could be made to grow again. His discovery could lead to new treatments for many paralyzed and brain-injured people. Dr. Weiss is also the Director of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Bryan Kolb, from the University of Lethbridge, is considered a founding father of behavioural neuroscience in Canada. Dr. Kolb has led Canada's research into behavioural neuroscience to revolutionize the treatment of brain injury, drug addiction, and conditions such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease. He is a co-author of three best-selling standard textbooks on neuroscience, and was instrumental in the founding of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge, which now employs more than 120 people and has attracted researchers from around the world to Lethbridge.
Harley Hotchkiss, a prominent Calgary businessman was appointed Chairman of the AHFMR Board of Trustees, in February 2000. Mr. Hotchkiss was first appointed to the AHFMR Board of Trustees by the Lieutenant- Governor of Alberta in March of 1999. In October 2005, Mr. Hotchkiss finished his term as chair for AHFMR's Board of Trustees. He has been succeeded by Gail Surkan as the new Trustees' chairperson.
Universal Rehabilitation Service Agency (URSA) is a Calgary-based, non-profit agency which was established in 1985. URSA's objective is to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities in community settings. URSA's commitment is to share knowledge and expertise with other national and international centres. For more information, visit www.ursa-rehab.com.
The Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) currently provides funding for over 600 researchers and researchers in training at the province's three main universities. AHFMR's commitment is to fund health research based on international standards of excellence and carried out by new and established investigators and researchers in training. Total AHFMR funding for more than a quarter of a century is in excess of $850 million. For more information, visit www.ahfmr.ab.ca.