Neurodevelopmental disorders affect roughly 14% of children worldwide. In Canada, just under one in every 10 children is estimated to be affected. Disorders of the brain represent a huge spectrum of conditions: they can be genetic, or structural. They can arise following injuries or infections, or have no known cause. Some conditions are more common, and have treatment options available - like ADHD, or speech language disorders. Some are incredibly rare, and their uniqueness makes them difficult to study, understand and treat. This episode takes a deep dive into frontline research on childhood brain development to discover what neurodevelopmental disorders can teach us about the resilient yet vulnerable frontier that is a growing brain.

Featured guests:

Anthony Flamier, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at l’Université de Montréal and Principal Investigator at CHU Sainte-Justine.

Benjamin De Leener,  Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering and Software Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal and Researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine.

Eric Samarut, Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at l’Université de Montréal and Principal Investigator at l’Université de Montréal Hospital Research Center.

This work is supported by the Azrieli Foundation.

The Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Program is made possible thanks to an anchor gift from the Azrieli Foundation, and matched by Brain Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund. It supports bold, early-career neuroscientists and helps bring their ideas to life.

Our host and executive producer is Fiona Sanderson. Our executive producers are Jillian Donnelly and Kate Shingler.

Our lead producer is Jess Schmidt, with editing by Morgane Chambrin.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, we’d appreciate it if you could send it to a friend. If you want to learn more about Brain Canada and the amazing research we support, please visit our website at braincanada.ca.

Your brain is an incredibly complex network. The firing circuits of your brain and nervous system shape everything from what you’ll eat for breakfast, to keeping your heart beating while you sleep.

But what happens when the firing of those circuits goes awry? Well, researchers are learning how to fix them: whether it’s using vagus nerve stimulation to safeguard people with epilepsy from the worst outcomes, or exploring the hidden machinery behind confidence, decision-making, and how dopamine shapes the way we learn - there’s a lot we still don’t know about these networks. The research spans different fields and specialties, but shares a strong common thread: if we better understand the circuit, maybe we can change the outcome.

Featured guests:

Dr. Ana Suller Marti,  Neurologist at London Health Sciences Centre and Associate Professor of Neurology at Western University.

Dr. Paul Masset, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University and Associate Academic Member at Mila Quebec AI Institute.

This work is supported by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation and the Azrieli Foundation.

The Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Program is made possible thanks to an anchor gift from the Azrieli Foundation, and matched by Brain Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund. It supports bold, early-career neuroscientists and helps bring their ideas to life.

Our host and executive producer is Fiona Sanderson. Our executive producers are Jillian Donnelly and Kate Shingler.

Our lead producer is Jess Schmidt, with editing by Morgane Chambrin.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, we’d appreciate it if you could send it to a friend. If you want to learn more about Brain Canada and the amazing research we support, please visit our website at braincanada.ca.

Are two of the most talked-about drugs in our culture today quietly reshaping how we understand the brain? Host Fiona Sanderson sits down with two researchers exploring the intersection of metabolic health and neuroscience - including how cannabis impacts the nervous system's ability to regulate blood flow to the brain, why GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic work brilliantly for some people and not at all for others, and what this could mean for the future of personalized medicine.

With cannabis now legal in Canada and GLP-1 agonists reshaping how we treat obesity and diabetes, these researchers are asking the questions patients - and the public - most need answered.

Featured guests:

Dr. Alexandre Caron, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy at Laval University

Dr. Michael Tymko, Assistant Professor in the College of Biological Science, Department of Human Health Sciences at Guelph University

This work is supported by the Azrieli Foundation and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

The Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Program is made possible thanks to an anchor gift from the Azrieli Foundation, and matched by Brain Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund. It supports bold, early-career neuroscientists and helps bring their ideas to life.

Our host and executive producer is Fiona Sanderson. Our executive producers are Jillian Donnelly and Kate Shingler.

Our lead producer is Jess Schmidt, with editing by Morgane Chambrin.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, we’d appreciate it if you could send it to a friend. If you want to learn more about Brain Canada and the amazing research we support, please visit our website at braincanada.ca.