NeuroDevNet:  FASD Research from the Lab to the Community
Channel: Children's Healthcare Canada
Date: 14/02/2013

Many are familiar with NeuroDevNet, one of Canada's Research Centres of Excellence, and their research in genetics and structural alterations in the brain as a result of fetal alcohol exposure.  What you may not be aware of is how far beyond this their research in FASD goes.  Knowledge translation, neuroethics and neuroinformatics are other research arms that bring a variety lenses to the issue of FASD.

The presentation will introduce NeuroDevNet, a Network of Centres of Excellence in developmental neuroscience.  NeuroDevNet is the first trans-Canada initiative dedicated to studying children's brain development from both basic science and clinical perspectives. 

NeuroDevNet's FASD team is engaged in an interdisciplinary research project that will investigate the relationship between genetics, structural alterations in the brain, and neurobehavioural outcomes in children impacted by FASD.

Join us as we walk through an overview of the spectrum of FASD research and findings being generated by NeuroDevNet. 

Presenters

Dr. James Reynolds B.Sc., Ph.D - Dr. James Reynolds is a graduate of Queen's University (B.Sc., 1982, Ph.D, 1987). After obtaining his doctorate, he completed postdoctoral training at the Addiction Research Foundation and the University of Toronto. Dr. Reynolds' research interests over the past 20 years have centred around studies on the effects of alcohol on brain function. In particular, his current research program is focused on understanding the mechanisms of brain injury, and the resulting behavioural and cognitive deficits, that are induced by prenatal exposure to alcohol. Dr. Reynolds has been funded by CIHR for interdisciplinary basic and clinical investigations into the cellular mechanisms and neurobehavioural consequences of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). He led a 7-member CIHR-funded New Emerging Team in FASD research, and is the Project Lead for the FASD Demonstration Project in NeuroDevNet. As the Project Lead, Dr. Reynolds co-ordinates multi-centre, cross-Canada projects encompassing basic science and clinical studies in FASD that involve genetics, brain imaging, neurobehavioural assessments and intervention studies.

Dr. Christian Beaulieu, Professor, Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions Scientist, Scientific Director of Peter S Allen MRI Research Centre, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta
Dr. Christian Beaulieu has research expertise in the development of new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, specifically for the study of white matter tracts, and their application to better detect differences of the human brain with typical neurodevelopment and in individuals with neurological disorders. His role in NeuroDevNet is to coordinate the MRI acquisition and analysis of children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders over a number of sites across Canada.

Dr. Dan Goldowitz PhD, Scientific Director, NeuroDevNet, Acting Co-Director, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Child and Family Research Inst, Professor, Dept Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia
Dan Goldowitz received his PhD in Psychobiology at the University of California at Irvine. He did postdoctoral work at Children's Hospital Boston, the Karolinska Inst and the Univ. of Utah. His first position was at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. As a professor at the University of Tennessee, he collaborated with researchers in the State of Tennessee to use mouse models to identify the functions of newly-identified genes. The University of Tennessee awarded funds to Goldowitz and three colleagues to develop a program in Bioinformatics and Genomics. He currently holds a tier-1 Canada Research Chair. He maintains strong NIH-, CIHR- and foundation-funded programs in the genetics of brain development. He successfully competed for, and is now the Scientific Director of a Network of Centres of Excellence in Brain Development, NeuroDevNet.

Dr. Joanne Weinberg PhD, Professor and Distinguished University Scholar, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, University of British Columbia
Dr. Joanne Weinberg is a Professor and Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She did her undergraduate training at Brown University, a Masters at Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and her PhD in Neuro- and Biobehavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical School. After her PhD, Dr. Weinberg did Postdoctoral training at Stanford, UC San Francisco and UBC, and joined the Department of Anatomy at UBC as an Assistant Professor in 1982. Dr. Weinberg is also a member of the Brain Research Center, and an Associate Member of the Department of Psychology and of the Child and Family Research Institute at Children's Hospital.