Special Episode - The Brain's Vigilant Sentries (uOttawa SciComm 2023)

Alzheimer's is a disease unique in the lack of treatment dand diagnostic techniques aimed at mitigating it's effects.  To address these issues, researchers at Dr. Clifford Cassidy’s neuroscience lab are investigating the use of novel imaging techniques that have great potential to improve both our understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s and improve our ability to predict the development of it’s symptoms. At the heart of these new techniques is a brain structure called the locus coeruleus (LC), which is the primary site of release of a chemical called norepinephrine. It has already been established that gradual degeneration of the LC is an important feature of alzheimer’s disease. However, the contribution of this degeneration to development of disease symptoms remains poorly understood due to limitations in existing imaging techniques. To solve this issue, Dr. Casidy’s lab is investigating the use of Neuromelanin, a pigment found abundantly in the LC to more accurately detect this structure’s degeneration and its relation to Alzheimer’s and its symptoms.

Learn more: https://www.cliffordcassidy.com/

00:00 I Podcast Introduction
02:32 I Overview of the Cassidy Lab
4:24 I What is NM-MRI?
6:40 I Overview of the Paper about NM-MRI
9:40 I What is the role of neuroadronergic system in psychotic symptom progression?
12:20 I What is the broader role of NM-MRI
14:30 I Outro

Podcast by Patrick Chary(Host), Abdul Karim Halal (Producer), Elijah Van Dinther (Script), Nicholas Lafreniere (Editor).

Soundtrack by the Underground Drive, Song title: Nobody. All rights reserved.
Listen more: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4sCJG8TMQyTZ9FDd1JjJmR