Québec Science’s top 10 discoveries of 2014
The Québec Science jury has spoken: three of the 10 Discoveries of the Year selected by the magazine were led by McGill-affiliated researchers. The prestigious annual list honours projects by: Gustavo Turecki, The Douglas/McGill Faculty of Medicine, Psychiatry; McGill's Department of Mechanical Engineering professor François Barthelat; and leading Alzheimer's researcher Judes Poirier of McGill and The Douglas. Here's a look at the three McGill-led breakthrough discoveries: Gustavo Turecki - Identifying a tiny molecule which may help battle depression Depression is a common cause of disability, and while viable medications exist to treat it, finding the right medication for individual patients often amounts to trial and error for the physician. Gustavo Turecki, a psychiatrist at the Douglas and professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at McGill, discovered together with his team, that the levels of a tiny molecule, miR-1202, may provide a marker for depression and help detect individuals who are likely to respond to antidepressant treatment. Judes Poirier - New hope for treatment of Alzheimer's disease Dr. Judes Poirier, of the Douglas Mental Health Institute and McGill, and his team have discovered that a relatively frequent genetic variant actually conveys significant protection against the common form of Alzheimer's disease and can delay the onset of the disease by as much as four years. The discovery opens new avenues for treatment against this devastating disease.
