Grant: Operating Grant

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Stroke, and Glaucoma (which causes blindness) are among the most prevalent forms of brain ailment, accounting for an annual burden of more than $20 billion to the Canadian economy. TBI and stroke are also among the leading causes of death in Canada, accounting for over 65,000 deaths annually. The majority of people that survive brain injury are left with permanent paralysis, sensory loss, or cognitive deficits. Despite the great burden that brain injury and disease represent to people, their loved ones, and our healthcare system, there are no clinical therapies for these ailments; the mechanisms by which injured neurons die in the brain remain for the most part unclear. Injury or disease of brain, spinal cord, or sensory structures like the eyes leads to permanent functional loss. When injured, brain neurons initiate a carefully orchestrated "suicide" program (apoptosis) that leads to cell degeneration. The elements that control this suicide program are conserved throughout different structures of the brain and common to almost all brain ailments. Thus elaborating these mechanisms will be beneficial in the future treatment of many brain diseases or insults. Keeping injured neurons alive is the first step in treating brain disease; the other is promoting regeneration and re-connection of those cells so that normal communication within the brain can be restored. Our work addresses the fundamental mechanisms that contribute to neuronal death and regenerative failure in the brain. We have recently discovered that events associated with neuron death revolve around a protein call Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK). We will now develop a better understanding of how FAK activity is derailed after brain injury, in order to identify new strategies to keep brain neurons alive and promote their regeneration. The proposed research has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of debilitating CNS insults, for which no therapies currently exist.