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.