uOBMRI’s Centre for Neuromuscular Disease and Université Claude Bernard partners with nearly $1M research investments
uOttawa Faculty of Medicine and uOttawa Brain and Mind Research Institute’s Centre for Neuromuscular Disease (CNMD) have now officially established a strategic partnership with the Institute NeuroMyoGene (INMG) at Université Claude Bernard in Lyon, France, which will provide almost $1,000,000 CAD over 5 years for collaborative research projects between the two institutes.
The CNMD/INMG partnership will enhance the research productivity and visibility of both institutes, and provide an innovative, international environment to train the next generation of NMD basic and clinical researchers.
Neuromuscular disease (NMD) represents a broad group of more than 150 genetic and acquired disorders, many of which cause progressive muscle wasting and premature death.
Though individually rare, NMD collectively affect approximately 1/5000 individuals. Currently, treatments focus on alleviating symptoms and enhancing physical mobility. Although many neuromuscular diseases were previously incurable, recent breakthroughs in the molecular pathogenesis of monogenic and acquired disorders are now revealing potential targets for disease-modifying therapies.
The Centre for Neuromuscular Disease (CNMD) unifies a critical mass of world-renowned basic and clinical researchers dedicated to characterizing the underlying pathological mechanisms and identifying novel treatment strategies for neuromuscular diseases.
The Institute NeuroMyoGene (INMG) is a consortium of three research organizations: the CNRS, the INSERM and the University Claude Bernard in Lyon. The Institute also gets strong support from the French Association against Myopathies (AFM). The INMG resulted from the gathering of the eight research teams of Lyon working on cellular neurobiology and on the neuromuscular system, and from the arrival of six new research teams from Paris, Toulouse, Melbourne and New-York. It gathers 14 individual research teams and about 170 people. Within the next years the Institute will be able to host up to 250 people.
This is a very exciting time for research in the city of Ottawa. With the establishment of the uOttawa Brain and Mind Research Institute and the unveiling of The Ottawa Hospital and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s Tender Loving Research campaign, there are many new opportunities for research intensification, collaboration and growth. The CNMD will build on its existing strengths in basic science research towards its goal of being an internationally-recognized centre of excellence for neuromuscular research, training, and patient care.
