A golden age of neurological discovery

For centuries, scientists have marveled at the brain’s incredible complexity. With its billions of neurons and trillions of neuronal connections, it is the most-studied yet least-understood structure known to medicine and possibly all of science.

It’s from this complexity that the wonder and mystery of the self — our thoughts and emotions, our experience of the world in all its richness, our individuality — emerges. In a fundamental sense, our brains are who we are.

That is why, when things go wrong, the impact can be so uniquely devastating for patients and their families. Diseases, disorders, and injuries of the brain have the power to rob us of our abilities, our memories, our independence and even our sense of self.

One in three Canadians will experience a serious neurological issue in their lifetime. Dementias alone affect more than 730,000 people, while mental health disorders affect eight million Canadians — at a cost of billions of dollars to the healthcare system each year. And these numbers are rising.

The physical, emotional, social and economic toll on patients and their families can be severe — with vulnerable populations most affected. People with low socioeconomic status and from marginalized communities can experience higher incidences of dementia, stroke, and mental health disorders, more difficult recoveries from brain injury, and worse long-term outcomes in general.

The need for new insights and better treatments has never been more urgent.

Fortunately, we are living in a golden age of neurological discovery. As one of my colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine’s Division of Neurology likes to remind us, 90 per cent of what we know about the brain we have learned in the past 15 years. Thanks to major advances in neurobiology, immunology, neuroimaging and other approaches, we are making breakthroughs that would have been scarcely imaginable a generation ago. 

As you’ll discover in this issue of Pathways, Faculty of Medicine researchers are tackling everything from early-life brain injury and autism spectrum disorder, to concussion and stroke, to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis. Taking a highly interdisciplinary team science-based approach, researchers are mapping the anatomical signatures that make some people more vulnerable to bipolar disorder, and uncovering how the brain creates, stores and retrieves memories at the cellular level.

It is astonishing work with transformative potential.

Indeed, with every discovery, UBC researchers, clinicians and learners are finding innovative ways to increase the brain’s resiliency at each stage of life and reduce the burden of neurological issues when they do arise.

One in three Canadians will experience a serious neurological issue in their lifetime. The need for new insights and better treatments has never been more urgent.

For patients this means earlier diagnoses, more effective treatments and monitoring, and better brain health overall. It means starting life with the best possible chances, adapting and thriving as we grow and mature, and aging with dignity and independence.

With the number of people living globally with dementias alone projected to triple by 2050, the need for prevention, treatment and care will only become more urgent at home and abroad. That is why we are training the next generation of researchers, clinicians and educators with the skills and experience they need to accelerate and expand this work.

It is why we are making it easier than ever before for scientists from UBC and beyond to collaborate across disciplines at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health and other world-class facilities. And it’s why we’re working with our partners to launch new initiatives such as the UBC Professorship in ALS research and a cutting-edge multiple sclerosis research and patient-care hub that will develop, manufacture and test next-generation therapies.