ALS takes away the patient’s motor functions one at a time, and the progress of finding effective drugs to counter its insidious effects has been slow. June is ALS Month, a good time to update the public on the latest developments in ALS research taking place at The Neuro.

The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) is recognized as a leading Canadian centre for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as well as for its care of ALS patients.

Microglia, critical to Alzheimer’s research, can now be produced artificially

The quest for better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has a powerful new tool at its disposal — the ability to artificially generate brain cells that have been shown to play an important role in the disease function.

The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) is home to Canada’s first multiple sclerosis (MS) clinic, and MS research and treatment has been a major focus at The Neuro for many years. The MS clinic employs a highly specialized staff who have access to the latest research data and methods of treatment. It is a clinic where innovation and progress are paramount.

The ability to remember sounds, and manipulate them in our minds, is incredibly important to our daily lives — without it we would not be able to understand a sentence, or do simple arithmetic. New research is shedding light on how sound memory works in the brain, and is even demonstrating a means to improve it.

Being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor is devastating news for patients and their loved ones. Whereas some types of tumor respond well to treatment, others such as glioblastomas – the most common and aggressive brain tumors – are known to recur and progress within short times from the diagnosis. Patients diagnosed with this type of cancer, and who undergo current standard treatment, have a median survival of 16 months.

Discovery could be key to treating brain and spinal cord injury

A foray into plant biology led one researcher to discover that a natural molecule can repair axons, the thread-like projections that carry electrical signals between cells. Axonal damage is the major culprit underlying disability in conditions such as spinal cord injury and stroke.

A new mouse model with a working immune system could be used in laboratory research to improve understanding of Zika virus infection and aid development of new treatments, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens.