What We Do

OVERVIEW

Alberta Neuroscience (ABNeuro) is a neuroscience collaboration across Alberta. We are actively involved in catapulting research and efforts of Alberta’s academic community to the realm of commercialization and innovation. Through collaborative partnerships with researchers, government and health system stakeholders, industry, and community organizations, our ultimate goal is to improve brain health in Alberta and beyond.

Computational Neuroscience

The Computational Neuroscience Team is focused on connecting educators and trainees to increase the prevalence and development of computational neuroscience research and innovation in Alberta.
Purpose

The Computational Neuroscience program was formed to provide the appropriate analysis skillsets needed to uncover relationships among brain signals and allow for a better understanding of the underlying biological processes. This program aims to give students the knowledge required to implement practical applications of computational methods for the analysis of neurobiological data.

Check out the Introductory Computational Neuroscience Workshop to learn more.

Goals

The Computational Neuroscience Program aims to:

  • Increase usage of computational neuroscience methods in research
  • Bring together researchers and trainees from across Alberta to share knowledge and best practices
  • Provide hands-on experience aiding in the development of new skills for trainees
Organization

The Computational Neuroscience Team includes researchers from the University of Lethbridge, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Alberta Neuroscience, and community partners.

Healthy Brain Aging & Dementia

The HBAD Team brings together Alberta researchers along the entire spectrum of both healthy brain aging and dementia research – from basic to translational sciences. The goal of HBAD is to accelerate diagnostic advancements, improve cognitive health, and reduce the overall burden of dementia on Albertans.
Purpose

The HBAD Team brings together Alberta researchers along the entire spectrum of both healthy brain aging and dementia research – from basic to translational sciences. The overarching goal of HBAD is to accelerate diagnostic advancements, improve cognitive health, and reduce the overall burden of dementia on Albertans.

Goals

HBAD aims to:

  • Strengthen collaborations across Alberta and develop a common vision for healthy brain aging and dementia work in Alberta;
  • Implement a collaborative, pan-Alberta research, education, and translation approach for healthy brain aging and dementia that will create significant positive impacts;
  • Increase the integration of research, education, translation, and population health to build a pipeline from biology to cure.
Organization

The HBAD Team has formed collaborative partnerships with Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions, the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories, the Seniors Health Strategic Clinical Network, Alzheimer Society of Calgary, Alberta Prion Research Institute as well as a wide variety of Alberta-based researchers. HBAD members are also involved in the development of the Alberta Dementia Strategy.

Multiple Sclerosis

Alberta Neuroscience (ABNeuro) and the Alberta MS Network partnered to establish The Alberta MS Collaboration to boost the province’s capacity for MS research and translation through industry, government, community, and academic partnerships.
Alberta Neuroscience, working together with the Alberta Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Network, is collaborating with the MS Society of Canada (MS Society), Biogen Canada (Biogen), Roche Canada, Brain Canada, the Universities of British Columbia and Toronto, and the Centre Hospitalier de l’université de Montréal on the Canadian Prospective Cohort Study to Understand Progression in Multiple Sclerosis (CanProCo).

Alberta MS Collaboration

Purpose

Alberta Neuroscience (ABNeuro) and the Alberta MS Network have partnered to establish The Alberta MS Collaboration to boost the province’s capacity for MS research and translation through industry, government, community, and academic partnerships.

Goals

The Alberta MS Collaboration aims to:

  • Support innovation through industry- and academia-partnered MS research and translation
  • Build capacity, collaboration, and alignment in the Alberta MS research community
  • Strengthen the capacity for rapid translation of research into practice
Organization

Established in 2014, the Alberta MS Collaboration is a multi-stakeholder initiative co-led by ABNeuro and the Alberta MS Network. Other partners include Alberta Economic Development and Trade, Alberta Health Services, and the MS Society of Canada.

CanProCo

Purpose

This collaboration of researchers, clinicians, industry, government, and non-profits has developed, funded, and implemented an MS translational research cohort program centered on the person living with MS, with an overall aim to improve the lives of Canadians living with MS.

Goals

Information gathered from the cohort will answer defined questions related to MS progression and lead to opportunities for translation and commercialization of discoveries into safe and effective treatment options that target progression in a “bench to bedside” approach. Each partner shares a common goal of accelerating innovation and the development of novel health therapies, technologies, and data infrastructures that will lead to health, economic, and societal benefits in Alberta and across Canada, particularly in the field of progressive MS.

Neuroimaging

CANIC connects structural and functional nervous system imaging researchers, clinical practitioners, and trainees from across the province to accelerate discoveries that support health, social, and economic benefits to Albertans.
Purpose

Campus Alberta Neuroscience Imaging Consortium (CANIC): Bringing together structural and functional nervous system imaging researchers, clinical practitioners, and trainees from across the province to accelerate discoveries that support health, social, and economic benefits to Albertans.

Goals

CANIC aims to:

  • Improve clinical diagnosis and predictions
  • Inform novel treatment and interventions
  • Provide understanding on and increase prevention of neural disorders
Organization

Established in 2013, CANIC is an open organization that includes members from the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, and Lethbridge who share a common interest in neuroimaging and who employ a wide variety of technologies to develop solutions to the biggest questions in brain science.

Pain, Cannabis, & Opioids

The Pain, Cannabis, & Opioids program aims to connect researchers, clinical practitioners, trainees, industry, and government from across the province to accelerate discoveries and improve pain management for Albertans.
Purpose

Tens of thousands of Albertans struggle with effective pain management daily. Managing pain is the most common reason people seek medical attention, and recently, has led to an over-reliance on opioid drugs, with Canada being the second highest consumer of these medications.

The impact of the recent legalization of cannabis has yet to be fully understood. Neuroscientists throughout Alberta are collaborating to research the potential applications of Cannabis use.

Goals

The Pain, Cannabis, Opioid program aims to:

  • Improve pain management for Albertans
  • Inform novel treatment and intervention for pain to the public
  • Produce quality research to inform government policy

Alberta Neuroscience welcomes requests for industry or research collaborations.

Organization

saLAlberta Neuroscience is supporting the Alberta Pain Research Network to encourage collaborative research, improve patient care, train the next generation of pain scientists and clinicians, and shape government and clinical policy. The APRN is committed to bringing together pain researchers from across the province and gaining a better understanding of all the work currently underway from bench to the bedside. As a research community, we will identify our current gaps in pain-related research across Alberta.

The APRN working groups are made up of individuals from across Alberta who are dedicated to improving pain research. We are interested in pain across the lifespan – from birth through to end of life. Together, we will prioritize areas to create and improve knowledge and apply any learnings to the front line to improve clinical practice in five areas of research, including:

  • Acute Pain
  • Pain in Chronic Diseases
  • Pediatric Pain
  • Opioid and Non-Opioid Use in Pain Management
  • Impact of Pain on Healthcare Delivery and Policy.

Spinal Cord Injury

The Spinal Cord Injury Partner committee works to collaboratively increase the creation and application of knowledge that promotes positive recovery and outcomes for individuals following a spinal cord injury. 
Purpose

Collaboratively increase the creation and application of knowledge that promotes positive recovery and outcomes for individuals following a spinal cord injury. This will be accomplished by working together to establish and maintain spinal cord injury initiatives, research and translation through partnerships and collaborations with Alberta research, community, health care and government partners.

Goals
  1. Strengthen the spinal cord injury network
  2. Support a holistic approach to daily living
  3. Create an improved health care experience
Organization

Established in 2016, the Spinal Cord Injury Partner committee includes researchers, health care professionals and leadership, people living with spinal cord injuries, not-for-profit and community groups, and government representatives. Together, along with other members of the spinal cord injury community, the committee co-developed the Alberta Spinal Cord Injury Strategy for Alberta. This Strategy acts as a roadmap to aid in collaboratively tackling the current challenges, gaps and issues faced by the spinal cord injury community.

For a copy of the Spinal Cord Injury Strategy for Alberta click here.

Entrepreneurship

Advancing neuroscience innovation and entrepreneurship efforts in Alberta through direct funding and commercialization support.
Purpose

The Entrepreneurship Team works to provide assistance and support of early-stage entrepreneurial organizations, in order to increase and advance the awareness of neuroscience and mental health.

Upcoming Programs
Past Programs
  • The Consultation Program helped to bridge the gap between research, enterprise and translation. Our 1-hour consultation program enabled CAN to connect entrepreneurs with local resources such as available funding, networks and mentors to reach out to, and business support.
  • The EntrepreNeuro program is a cohort-based program designed to support early-stage neuroscience projects to launch or grow their innovation.
  • The Entrepreneurship Seed Grant Program ran annually from 2019-2021 and provided funding of up to $30,000 to successful applicants for business development.
For more information on any of ABNeuro’s areas of work, please contact us at abneuro@ucalgary.ca