Approximately 10 percent of Canadians are affected by neurological disorders including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis.
There are many challenges to treating these disorders including the brain’s limited ability to regrow its brain cells, called neurons. The brain can’t grow new cells to heal itself in the same way that other parts of the body can – for example, the way the skin can renew after a cut.
Regenerative medicine researchers at the University of Toronto (U of T) and affiliated hospitals are working on regenerative medicine solutions to treating neurological disease.
Read about five ways Medicine by Design is transforming treatment for neurological disorders.
Reprogramming cells in the brain with a gene therapy
A Medicine by Design team is working on reprogramming brain cells — a strategy that has demonstrated brain repair in animal models of stroke. "Think of it as a bespoke strategy for brain repair,” says Maryam Faiz, one of the team's researchers. Read more.
Helping the brain repair itself
Stem cells can repair tissues and organs damaged by acute injury, genetic disease or the aging process. Freda Miller leads a team that is tackling the question of how to activate stem cells to repair the brain on demand. Read more.
“Mini brains” — or organoids — to model disease
A Medicine by Design team lead by Jeff Wrana aims to use organoids to gain unique insights into the human-specific aspects of signaling networks associated with conditions such as autism. Read more.
Electrical stimulation for brain repair
A project led by Cindi Morshead is investigating electrical stimulation's promise for neural repair through promoting neuroplasticity and facilitating neural regeneration. Read more.
An integrated approach to treating blindness
An interdisciplinary team of scientists led by Molly Shoichet is working on a ground-breaking research project to restore vision using retinal stem cells. Read more.
