Reversing memory loss

While we have learned more about the brain in the last 20 years than in the entire history of modern medicine that preceded it, there is currently no effective treatment for dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. But if you listen to CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Etienne Sibille, that is all about to change. He is convinced that after more than a decade of preclinical work, he has made a discovery that will revolutionize how we diagnose and treat the aging brain, raising the tantalizing possibility that in the not too distant future, we will be able to prevent and even reverse the devastating effects of dementia.

Assisted by ready access to CAMH’s world-class resources in molecular brain research like the Brain Health Imaging Centre run by his colleague Dr. Neil Vasdev, Dr. Sibille believes the potential implications of his work are profound.

“There are no drugs on the market that improve cognitive deficit (e.g., memory and thinking problems), whether it is in depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, etc.,” says Dr. Sibille. “This would be a first. And it is not just the symptoms that are being treated. We have shown that we can improve the health of brain cells and reverse the effect of normal aging in the brain. The implications may be broader than we think.”

“I did not come from the world of Alzheimer’s research. My work has been in the area of stress and normal aging and so we looked at the problem of dementia from a different angle. Parts of our finding has actually been known for over 40 years in Alzheimer’s research, we just haven’t looked at it in the right way. Sometimes you have to see what other people don’t see and connect the dots, even when you are looking at the same data.”

He has no doubt that CAMH is the perfect place for him to advance his work and believes a new state-of-the-art research building will allow for even more profound discoveries in the coming years.

“The research that is performed at CAMH on multiple levels of investigation, from molecular to clinical models, is a huge asset for researchers,” says Dr. Sibille. “We are in the midst of what I would say is a revolution in brain science where the amount of knowledge has dramatically increased. It’s a fantastic time to be in brain research.”