Testing the neural mechanisms of face processing in individuals with Autism: An MEG study

Autism is one of the most common neurological disorder affecting children, boys more commonly than girls, and usually appears in the first three years of life. It is thought that this disorder changes the way the brain processes information, causing cognitive impairments, deficits in communication and social understanding, and unusual behaviours. As a result, individuals with autism have difficulty paying attention to, and making sense of, social situations. Faces communicate a lot of social and emotional information, and are important to everyday interactions. As children develop, they typically orient to others’ faces from birth, becoming experts at recognizing faces. Conversely, children with autism are impaired at recognizing faces and facial expressions. Jennifer Barrie is using magnetoencephalography (MEG) — a non-invasive type of brain imaging that measures magnetic energy in the brain during cognition — to determine how neural processing differs in people with autism from those without the disorder. Barrie is examining when and where brain activation occurs when both groups look at faces. She anticipates that people with autism see only elements of faces, while others see the entire face, making faces easier to recognize. Using MEG, Barrie will assess whether these developmental differences can be changed with training. If so, these findings could shape future training programs that would enable people with autism to learn how to better perceive faces, improving their social and emotional functioning and quality of life.

Functional Analysis of Cilia's Role in Obesity

Cilia are hair-like structures that extend from nearly every cell in mammals. Non-motile cilia are involved in the sensations of the external environment, including light, smell and touch. Improper function of cilia is linked to a growing list of human disorders, including kidney disease, blindness, loss of the sense of smell, loss of left-right body asymmetry, male and female infertility, diabetes and obesity. Bardet-Biedl syndrome is an inherited disorder characterized by mental retardation as well as many of the symptoms linked with improper function of cilia. The known link between Bardet-Biedl syndrome and obesity demonstrates that dysfunction of cilia can predispose an organism to accumulate fat. How this occurs is unknown. However, people with this disorder are known to have an increased appetite and raised levels of certain types of proteins produced by fat cells that are involved in the regulation of appetite. Using a worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, which has sensory cilia remarkably similar to those of human cells, Michael Healey is aiming to clarify the role of ciliated nerve cells in regulating lipid levels. Healey is investigating whether all ciliary proteins or only a specific subset are involved in fat regulation, which ciliated nerve cells are important for fat regulation, and how cilia can control body weight. Ultimately, he aims to understand how Bardet-Biedl syndrome patients become obese, which will provide new insight into body weight control and the development of treatments for obesity.

Dimensionality and implications of reduced cognitive performance following kidney transplant

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an increasingly common disorder among middle-aged and older adults. More than 1,000 Canadians received kidney transplants in 1999, and there were more than three times that many on waiting lists. Deficits in memory and cognition are common in adults with chronic kidney disease and these worsen with increasing age. Cognitive abilities continue to be impaired following successful kidney transplant. However, decreased cognitive function in successful kidney transplant patients, which has vast implications on quality of life, has not been thoroughly examined. Theone Paterson is studying the everyday cognitive ability of renal transplant patients and how age, traditional and everyday measures of cognitive performance, and differing emotional states affect their quality of life and their ability to function in society on a daily basis post transplant. Specifically, Paterson’s research is looking at how these factors affect their ability to follow treatment regimens, such as taking medicines and following dietary restrictions. This work could lead to new approaches, including special training for healthcare providers in ways of supporting patients to better understand and remember aspects of treatment. Ultimately, the goal is to improve patients’ lives.

Nonverbal Emotion Processing Across Communication Channels

Nonverbal communication – facial expressions, gestures, posture, and intonation (tone of voice) – offers a rich source of information about a speaker’s intentions and moods. Recognizing and correctly interpreting these cues is important for social competence, but is challenging for people with autism and other developmental disorders that have deficits in nonverbal communication. Intonation and facial expressions represent the most prominent and biologically important nonverbal communication channels. These channels typically overlap in terms of the information they convey. While few studies have looked at the shared and unique brain mechanisms involved in these communication systems, some behavioural research suggests shared underlying mechanisms. Using magnetoencephalography, an imaging technique used to detect electro-magnetic and metabolic shifts occurring in the brain, Valery Sramko is studying both typically developing adults and those with autism spectrum disorder. Sramko is examining the mechanisms and brain areas shared by intonation and facial expression, which are deficient in people with autism, to shed light on nonverbal emotion processing. Her overall aim is to gain a better understanding of the processes and mechanisms involved in nonverbal communication, which could contribute to the development of potential interventions for people with autism and other developmental disorders.

Biomechanical energy harvesting

Electronic medical devices such as vital sign monitors, pacemakers and motorized prostheses are relied upon by people with disabilities, the elderly and others. However, all of these mobile devices are powered by batteries, which have limited energy storage, and add additional weight to the devices. Although substantial progress has been made in enhancing battery capacity, power requirements for the mobile devices are increasing faster than the improvements made in battery performance. Human power is an attractive energy source because of the ability for humans to convert food into mechanical power and the high mechanical power outputs attainable by humans. Human power is portable, environmentally friendly, and readily available for power-consuming applications that involve direct human use, such as prostheses. Qingguo Li is part of an SFU research team who has developed a biomechanical energy harvester (BEH) that converts mechanical energy extracted from human movement into electrical energy. Resembling a leg brace, the BEH works by acquiring the mechanical power produced by muscles at the knee joint when the user is walking. The technology is similar to regenerative braking in hybrid gas-electric automobiles; instead of dispersing mechanical energy as heat using conventional brakes, the energy is converted into electrical energy. Li’s goal is to develop a family of energy harvesting devices that can be worn on the body, inserted into motorized prostheses or permanently implanted within the body.

The medical management of human intersex: An evaluation of parent-clinician communication about treatment options

The surgical and hormonal management of intersexed children is a much more common component of pediatric care in Canada than many people realize. Intersex conditions, where noticeably atypical genitalia is deemed to require intervention, occurs in about 1:2000 live births. In the international context, driven by an increasingly well-organized coalition of intersexed people, the potentially harmful effects of these medical interventions are being debated. Proponents of standard treatment protocols justify genital surgeries with an in-the-best-interest-of-the-child rationale, claiming that to leave a child’s body in a state of sex ambiguity would inevitably lead to psychological harm and sexual maladjustment. Yet, no long-term follow up studies have been conducted to substantiate this claim. The delivery of current medical services is not structured in ways that allow for follow-up with intersexed adults, and much of the evidence from intersexed people themselves suggests that, in the long-term, the best interests of intersexed children are not protected. Many grow into adulthood feeling stigmatized and traumatized, and are left in both physiological and psychological pain by their years of medical treatment. Rodney Hunt is conducting a detailed qualitative study of parent-clinician communication to gain insight into the ways in which the current medical management of intersexed children is taken up or contested in a clinical setting. He aims to achieve a deeper understanding of the institutional and social factors that influence parent-clinician communication and decision-making when treatment options are discussed. Ultimately, Rodney’s goal is to advance current theoretical understandings of sex and gender in medicine and health policy frameworks, and to provide a valuable evidentiary base for diverse stakeholders, including clinicians, social scientists, health policy makers, intersex support groups, women’s health advocates, and those most directly affected, intersexed people and their families.

Elucidating the function of Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) proteins in Intraflagellar Transport (IFT)

Cilia are fine, hairlike projections that protrude from most cells of the human body. Many of these cilia perform sensory roles such as detecting light, sensing temperature and perceiving smell. Dysfunction of cilia is implicated in a number of conditions, most notably polycystic kidney disease. The less common Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) reflects the effects of complete loss of cilia function throughout the body. Patients with this condition suffer from obesity, polydactyly (more than 20 fingers/toes), cystic kidneys, infertility and many other conditions. Analysis of cilia structures in a tiny worm called nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has provided tremendous insight into the function of BBS proteins. Research has revealed that BBS proteins are involved in the process of intraflagellar transport (IFT), the dynamic mechanism through which cilia are built and maintained. An absence of BBS proteins appears to impair cilia function, apparently by causing the IFT machinery to split apart, although other deficiencies are highly likely. Peter Inglis has developed a new approach in studying the interaction of BBS proteins within the IFT complex, focusing on how BBS proteins are involved in the rearrangement of core IFT proteins. He will dissect BBS function and assemble a general model for the role of BBS proteins in IFT. Ultimately, his work promises to shed significant light on a cellular mechanism implicated in a wide variety of human disorders.

Assessing reward-entrainment as a means to activating and identifying the food-entrainable pacemaker

Optimal functioning requires organisms to anticipate and adapt to daily environmental changes driven by the cycle of the sun. Entrainment is the process by which daily rhythms of behaviour and physiology are synchronized to the environment. Shift-workers and air travelers are often out of sync with their environment due to a mismatch between their internal clock and the external environment. This dyssynchrony leads to general discomfort and reduced performance known as shift-work malaise or jet-lag. This has a detrimental effect on health, performance, levels of productivity and quality of life. Glenn Landry aims to achieve a better understanding of the mechanisms of entrainment. In mammals, an area of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus acts as a master pacemaker. In animal models that have access to food and water without restriction, damage to this area of the brain eliminates all daily rhythms. However, if food is restricted to one to two meals at a fixed time each day, these animal models are still capable of anticipating the feeding time. This shows that a separate pacemaker exists for anticipating food. But identifying this food-entrainable pacemaker has been a challenge since many brain structures are activated during food restriction, making it difficult to isolate the pacemaker from background activity. Landry is testing a recently developed strategy to filter out this background activity. By using a number of different stimuli capable of activating the food-entrainable pacemaker, he aims to isolate this pacemaker by identifying brain areas activated in common across these stimuli. Landry hopes identifying the food-entrainable pacemaker could ultimately lead to new approaches to re-setting the clocks of shift-workers and air travelers, improving health and productivity.

Investigating the Role of the O-GlcNAc Post-Translational Modification in the Development of Type II Diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease

There is a growing prevalence of type 2 diabetes. It has been estimated that more than 20 million people have the disease in the United States alone. Type 2 diabetes is a disease characterized by resistance of our bodies to insulin, a hormone needed for normal metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. This resistance leads to prolonged elevation of blood sugar levels, eventually giving rise to the diseased state. Understanding what events lead to insulin resistance is an intense topic of research. Nevertheless, the precise molecular mechanisms by which insulin resistance arises still require delineation in order to fully understand the disease Building on his MSFHR-funded Master’s research, Matthew Macauley is investigating what the role of proteins modified by a sugar known as GIcNAc have in causing insulin resistance. One hypothesis is that high levels of glucose over a long time period may increase GlcNAc modification and that this in turn results in insulin resistance. Macauley is using an enzyme inhibitor of O-GlcNAcase to artificially create elevated levels of GlcNAc in animal models to determine if insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes ensue. Using this same enzyme inhibitor, Macauley is also conducting a separate study to increase GIcNAc attached to tau, a key protein involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this study is to determine if the inhibitor can prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s in an animal model.

The role of O-Glycosylation in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of motor neurons (specialized nerve cells) in the spinal cord, brain, and descending motor tracts. ALS leads to muscle weakness and paralysis, and is often fatal. Numerous biochemical processes have been linked to the progression of ALS, including increased levels of protein modification (phosphate units). Xiaoyang Shan is researching the role of modified sugar units, known as O-GlcNAc, in maintaining the proper functioning of neurofilaments (structural proteins) that give neurons support and shape but become damaged in ALS patients. He is also investigating the role of O-GlcNAc in maintaining healthy motor function. The findings could help increase understanding of the causes of ALS, and contribute to development of a potential treatment to slow or halt the progression of the disease.