Dr. Albensi’s lab focuses on the biological basis of how normal memory works and finding ways to learn how memory is affected when it is impaired. Dr. Albensi describes one process associated with memory formation as synaptic plasticity. Synaptic plasticity is a term to describe how cells change anatomically in response to new memory formation. Much of the work in his lab is centered on memory impairments in Alzheimer’s dementia and epilepsy. Read more.

Dr. Gordon Glazner says that although there is a relationship between Amyloid Beta (Aβ) plaques and Alzheimer’s disease, treatments that reduce or remove Aβ plaques from the brain have very little effect on how Alzheimer's progresses in someone affected by the disease. Read more.

How do we help those who have difficulty communicating? For Dr. Lorna Guse, this is a very important question.
She had already been watching people affected by Alzheimer’s disease struggle with communication for a long time when she heard about an innovation created by a Japanese engineer named Dr. Takanori Shibata. Dr. Shibata had invented a table-top robot that resembled a baby Canadian harp seal. Read more.

Dr. Tiina Kauppinen is researching the role of microglia and how it could identify a treatment for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. Her project, The role of PARP-1 as a modulator for microglial functions in Alzheimer's disease, has received funding from the Alzheimer Society of Canada's Research Program. Read more.

Dr. Melanie Martin, an associate professor of Physics at the University of Winnipeg and the director of the Magnetic Resonance Microscopy Centre in the Department of Radiology at the University of Manitoba, spends a lot of her time looking for ways to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease earlier and find effective ways to monitor treatments. Read more.

Dr. Xinmin Li is looking towards using Traditional Chinese Medicine and natural medicine, such as plants and herbs, to help treat a number of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. Currently Dr. Li is working with a Chinese herb known as Polygonum Multiflorum, an herb that has been used to slow the aging process for thousands of years. Dr. Li thinks this herb might be able to help delay aging and treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the future. Read more.

Dr. Zahra Moussavi, a professor at the Biomedical Engineering Program of the University of Manitoba, was focusing her research on diagnosis of respiratory disorders, when cognitive changes in mother started to occur.
It took Dr. Moussavi four years to have her worst fears confirmed. Her mother was diagnosed with having Alzheimer's disease. This diagnosis started Dr. Moussavi down a different path. Read more.

Dr. Shahin Shoostari’s research focuses on people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities and how they are affected by Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Recently, she completed a study using linked health and social services administrative data accessed through the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP) and found that the dementia rates in people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities are much higher. Read more.

Dr. Fran Racher believes that when it comes to couples who are affected by dementia, we need to look at the situation as experienced by the couple, which is much more than just the person who is diagnosed. Read more.

Kerstin Stieber Roger is working at finding a way to make the lives of those affected by neurological illnesses like Alzheimer’s easier to live. “It’s really about the daily lived experience,” she says. Stieber Roger, Assistant Professor in the Human Ecology Department at the University of Manitoba, has been involved in the LINC Study (The Everyday Experience of LIving with a Neurological Condition - a national study to learn about people living with a neurological condition and how it impacts their everyday lives). Read more.

Genevieve Thompson, a Manitoba dementia researcher and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Manitoba, is researching how well people live and die in personal care homes. She is looking to find out how to provide the best end-of-life care possible. Read more.

Shenghua Zhu, University of Manitoba, is investigating the role of myelin in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. His project will provide possible intervention and prevention strategies for the clinical syndrome of Alzheimer’s disease. Read more.