ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE 

University of Toronto

Alzheimer's disease is a devastating disorder that affects the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Ontarians.

Dr. Sheena Josselyn's research will focus on how memory in healthy people is formed and how normal memory processes are disrupted.

"We use mice which have the human Alzheimer genes," explains Dr. Josselyn, a researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children. "We give them tasks, similar to those Alzheimer's patients would be asked to perform and we've discovered that when they're young, they can do the tasks with no problem. When they're older, they can't remember how to do them."

Dr. Josselyn and her team will give the mice a gene that's been identified with normal memory process to see if their memory can be rescued.

"The ultimate goal of our research is to develop novel treatments for people afflicted with conditions characterized by poor memory," says Dr. Josselyn. "These include Alzheimer's disease, as well as other conditions, such as learning disabilities in children."

Researcher: Dr. Sheena Josselyn