Research

$5-million gift positions UAlberta as leader in child and adolescent mental health research

CASA-FUNDED RESEARCH CHAIR IN DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY AIMS TO IMPROVE FRONT-LINE STRATEGIES FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS ISSUES

AUTHOR

ROSS NEITZ

PHOTOS BY

HABIT MARKETING AGENCY

CASA, A CHILD, adolescent and family mental-health organization, has committed $5 million over the next 10 years for the University of Alberta’s Department of Psychiatry to develop the CASA Research Chair in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

At top: CASA and the U of A's Department of Psychiatry announced the creation of the CASA Research Chair in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

The new chair will help drive community-focused research and apply evidence-based findings to front-line care with an aim of improving the lives of children, youth and families with mental-health and addictions issues. A key aim will be to collaborate with children, youth and their parents to gain new insights and solutions. “There are all kinds of gaps in the area of youth mental health,” said Denise Milne, CEO of CASA and CASA Foundation. “We see a variety of children struggling with mental-health challenges ranging from eating and sleeping disorders, to attention deficit disorder, to depression and anxiety, suicidal ideation and serious attempts.” According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, an estimated 1.2 million children and youth in Canada are affected by mental illness, yet less than 20 per cent will receive appropriate treatment.

At bottom: Xin-Min Li, Department of Psychiatry chair

“We need to support children and their families in their earlier years through their challenges and struggles so they

can have healthy and productive lives,” said Milne.

“We need to support children and their families in their earlier years... so they can have healthy and productive lives.”

“I’m very excited about this gift. It will be transformative,” said Xin-Min Li, chair of the U of A’s Department of Psychiatry. “Together with CASA, we’ll establish a leading education, training and research centre in Canada for youth mental health.”

UAlberta medical team engineers cartilage for nose reconstructions

AUTHOR

ROSS NEITZ

ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS OF surgery Khalid Ansari, Martin Osswald and Adetola Adesida used a clinically approved collagen biomaterial as a scaffold to grow new cartilage for patients who need nasal reconstruction after skin cancer.

The researchers hope to begin clinical trials in the near future to prove the efficacy of the cartilage in the operating room. Engineered cartilage—superior in many ways to that harvested at sites such as a patient’s ribs or ear—could potentially supply unlimited quantities for surgeons and result in custom-made reconstructions for patients. In 2015, there were more than three million cases of skin cancer in North America alone and about one-third of cases occur

AUTHOR

SHELBY SOKE the protein RYBP prevents DNA repair in cancer cells—including breast cancer— and could make chemo or radiation therapy more effective. “Cancer cells that resist therapy are able to repair themselves despite the DNA damage. By preventing them from repairing, we could more effectively treat cancer,” explained post-doctoral fellow Mohammad Ali.

Surgery professor Adetola Adesida and his team engineered cartilage that can be used for nasal reconstruction.

on a patient’s nose. This research was funded by Alberta Cancer Foundation, Mickleborough Interfacial Bioscience Research Program and the Canadian

Biomarker discovery could herald more effective cancer treatments

A UALBERTA RESEARCH project found

Institutes of Health Research. Ali led the collaboration between Michael Hendzel’s lab from the departments of oncology and cell biology and Leo Spyracopoulos’ lab from the Department of Biochemistry; both are members of the Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta. This research was funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation, Alberta Innovates, the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Experimental therapy could boost stroke recovery

AUTHOR

ROSS NEITZ

LEAD AUTHOR ANNA Wiersma of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute and associate professor of psychiatry Ian Winship injected chondroitinase ABC into the spinal cords of rats after they suffered stroke and found they could enhance recovery by inducing amplified rewiring of circuits connecting the brain to the spinal cord. When they combined this spinal therapy with rehabilitative training, recovery was further amplified.

“This approach is still a long way from the clinic,” stressed Winship, “but this gives us real evidence that there are things we can do for people with permanent disability after stroke.” This research was funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Alberta Innovates.

Anna Wiersma and Ian Winship found that combining spinal injection with rehabilitation therapy could help people recovering from a stroke.

Surprise finding could lead to new MS research

AUTHOR

ROSS NEITZ

Biochemistry professor David Brindley (centre) with two members of his team, Xiaoyun Tang (left) and Guanmin Meng

WHILE EXAMINING HUMAN brain tissues, researchers from the University of Alberta and McGill University unexpectedly found that the tissues from people who had MS— compared with those without MS— contained an extremely high level of a protein named calnexin.

The researchers then tested the susceptibility of mice lacking calnexin to the mouse model of human MS (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis) and were astonished to find that the mice lacking the protein were completely resistant to the disease.

Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with an estimated one in 340 Canadians living with the disease. Symptoms vary widely but often include cognitive impairment, dizziness, tremors and fatigue, caused by T-cells that, after becoming activated, find their way into the brain and attack the protective myelin covering of neurons in the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and damage to the central nervous system.

“It turns out that calnexin is somehow involved in controlling the function of the blood-brain barrier,” said Marek Michalak, a distinguished professor of biochemistry at the U of A. “When there is too much calnexin, this wall gives angry T-cells access to the brain, where they destroy myelin.”

The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Marek Michalak led the team that discovered high levels of calnexin in brain tissue from people with MS.

Blocking cancer cells’ escape route from radiotherapy

AUTHOR

ROSS NEITZ

SCIENTISTS AT THE Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta discovered that irradiating breast fat produces an inflammatory response that counteracts the effectiveness of radiotherapy.

“After removal of breast tumours (lumpectomy), the breast is exposed to 16 daily doses of radiotherapy. Each dose stimulates breast fat to release autotaxin, an enzyme that initiates wound-healing,” said David Brindley, professor of biochemistry. “This response protects residual cancer cells from being killed and leads to scarring (fibrosis) in the breast.”

Funded by Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Brindley’s team is now seeking to counteract these adverse effects. They are working with an experimental autotaxin inhibitor with the hope that it can improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy and decrease the adverse effects of scarring.