Publication overview

Research center

Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Toronto, Canada

Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases

About the center

“Why have I been diagnosed with ALS when so many other people have not?” This is an all-too-common question of people living with the devastation of an ALS diagnosis, and the ALS Society of Canada (ALS Canada) wants to help answer it. We are leading Canada’s fundraising efforts for Project MinE to support the sequencing of up to 1,000 Canadian genomes.

As a national organization responsible for the ALS Canada Research Program, we aim to accelerate research impact through a comprehensive national program focused on translating scientific discoveries into treatments for ALS and fostering Canada’s strong and networked ALS research community to build capacity and collaboration. Support for the ALS Canada Research Program is made possible by the generosity of donors, ALS Societies across Canada, Brain Canada and the federal government’s Canada Brain Research Fund.

The Canadian component of Project MinE brings together four of Canada’s leading ALS geneticists in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City for their first ever cross-country collaboration. Each has led or been part of international consortia that have resulted in some of the most important genetic discoveries in the field. They also represent a geographical balance that provides a collaborative set of Canadian samples representative of ALS cases across the country.

Ekaterina Rogaeva

Chair in Research on Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease; Professor, Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Department of Medicine.

Ekaterina Rogaeva

Chair in Research on Dementia with Lewy Bodies

For the past 20 years, Dr. Rogaeva has contributed substantially to the development of effective genetic testing of different forms of dementia and movement disorders in her clinical practice, with a strong focus on Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

Dr. Rogaeva played a central role in the discovery and characterization of the two presenilin genes responsible for the most aggressive form of early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as the SORL1 gene associated with common late-onset forms of Alzheimer’s Disease. Dr. Rogaeva’s current focus is on genetic and epigenetic studies of C9orf72.

Dr. Rogaeva is the author of ~225 peer-reviewed publications and is listed among the top 10 Canadian neuroscientists, based on the highest impact papers published in 2013-2014.