News

Une équipe de 14 chercheurs provenant de 6 universités canadiennes a obtenu 4,3M$ pour perfectionner des outils génétiques, optiques et viraux qui ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives dans l'étude et le traitement des troubles neuronaux. Ces outils pourraient un jour profiter aux personnes souffrant de maladies telles que le parkinson, l'épilepsie, les douleurs chroniques ainsi que certains types de cécité ou de surdité.

A study highlights the mechanism responsible for differential processing of these pain signals in the spinal cord.

Story by Jean Hamann, translation by CERVO

"Stay productive by setting a routine, identifying a workspace and getting dressed, says Melina Papalampropoulou-Tsiridou."

At the moment, staying motivated can be tough. Many scientists have admitted this on social media or in online meetings. I’ve struggled to follow a consistent routine and to be productive, thinking twice about getting dressed in the morning while wondering, “What’s the point?” This is especially true when we’re surrounded by distractions at home — a place usually kept away from work.

The ALS Society of Canada (ALS Canada), together with Brain Canada, announced a new trainee award to Dr. Sahara Khademullah, post-doctoral research in the lab.  ALS Canada was also pleased to partner with La Fondation Vincent Bourque who will be providing financial support for Dr. Khademullah's award. This grant has been awarded with the aim of sustaining high-quality Canadian ALS research by providing salary support for the next generation of ALS researchers currently pursuing PhDs or postdoctoral research positions.

Congratulations to Yves De Koninck, who has won, with a team of colleagues from the CERVO Brain Research Centre and the Centre d'optique, photonique et laser (COPL), a prestigious prize for interdisciplinary research, given by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Brockhouse prize.  The winning team includes Daniel Côté, Yves De Koninck, Michel Piché, Younès Messaddeq, Benoit Gosselin and Réal Vallée.  It is rewarded for its innovative to understanding brain function through the development of new technologies that leverage the expertise of p

The Canadian Pain Society highlighted the research accomplishments of Yves De Koninck and Robert Bonin, a YDK lab alumnus and professor at University of Toronto, at their annual meeting, which took place May 23-26 in Halifax.  Congratulations to Professor De Koninck, who received the Distinguished Career Award, and to Professor Bonin, who received the Early Career Investigator Pain Research Grant. 

Écoutez une entrevue récente avec Yves De Koninck qui explique comment ses recherches récentes ont permis de trouver une cible thérapeutique qui permettrait de diminuer les symptômes du sevrage aux opioïdes, comme la morphine et le fentanyl.  Cette découverte, qui a aussi permis d'identifier des médicaments déjà approuvés pour l'utilisation chez l'humain, pourrait permettre d'accélérer l'approbation de médicaments pour traiter les symptômes du sevrage de plusieurs années.

Écoutez l'entrevue sur iheartradio.ca:

A discovery made in collaboration with Yves De Koninck of the Neurophotonics Centre has been listed as one of the top 10 discoveries of 2016 by Québec Science, and is a candidate for the magazine's people's choice award for discovery of the year. This discovery, a collaboration between neuroscientists and physicists, offers hope for repair of nerve connections, and even a way to create new ones.  

The Journal of Neuroscience has recently featured on its front page a figure from an article De Koninck laboratory members contributed to. The article studies the localisation of a specific receptor on neurons, the Coxsackievirus Adenovirus Receptor (CAR), in healthy brains, but also during development and in neurodegenerative disease conditions. The study suggests CAR has a role in adult neurogenesis, synapses, and plasticity in the hippocampus.

We had the pleasure to celebrate the 10th anniversary of optogenetics research with Karl Deisseroth, who delivered the Keynote and Public lecture at the recent Frontiers in Neurophotonics Symposium.  FINS2015 was held October 3-6 in Québec city.

On the picture, Karl Deisseroth, Yves De Koninck and Valentin Nägerl celebrate with a 10th anniversary cake.  

Rob Bonin has been appointed Assistant Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, effective August 1, 2015. 

Read more about his appointment on the University of Toronto website.

Congratulation Rob!

Dr. Yves De Koninck has been named Director of Research of the  Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) de la Capitale-Nationale. For more information, read the  Press release.

The Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec participate in the  24 heures de sciences event by hosting an open house event on May 9 2015.  On this occasion, Marianne Paquette interviewed Yves De Koninck to talk about the workings of the brain.  Listen to the interview, in French, here:   Émission c’est bon pour la santé! | Comprendre son cerveau -Yves De Koninck avec Marianne Paquette

Robert Bonin was named Étudiant chercheur étoile for the month of March 2015 by the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé for his publication : A Spinal Analogue of Memory Reconsolidation Enables Reversal of Hyperalgesia, published in : Nature Neuroscience, vol. 17, online in July 2014, p. 1043-1045

Yves De Koninck participate in a panel discussion about chronic pain on Minnesota Public Radio news 

Treating chronic pain, especially if you're trying to avoid opiates, can be difficult. But new research shows promise for improvement in treatment that avoids highly addictive drugs.

The television show Découverte, on Radio-Canada, featured neurophotonics research.  

View this story on the Radio-Canada website (in French only)  Illuminer le cerveau

Yves De Koninck has been awarded the 2014 Barbara Turnbull awards for spinal cord research.  This prize is supported through a partnership between the Barbara Turnbull Foundation for Spinal Cord Research, Brain Canada, and the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction.  It is the top prize in spinal cord injury research awarded in Canada each year.

Research recently published by the De Koninck lab showed that hyperalgesia could be reversed when reactivated, in a manner similar to memory reconsolidation.  This important discovery was recently featured on PBS's NovaNext website 

The original research was published in Nature Neuroscience

A study published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience by Yves De Koninck and Robert Bonin reveals that it is possible to relieve pain hypersensitivity using a new method that involves rekindling pain so that it can subsequently be erased. This discovery could lead to novel means to alleviate chronic pain.

Université Laval published a press release about this important discovery

Marc Bergeron received the Marlene Reimer Brain Star of the year award at the 8th Annual Canadian Association for Neuroscience meeting. This award is given to the highest ranking Brain Star Award of the year. Brain Star awards are given by the Institutes of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction of the CIHR and are designed to recognize the excellence of research done in Canada by students and trainees in all fields and disciplines covered by the Institute.

2013 - Francesco Ferrini / Tuan Trang

Article in Nature Neuroscience: Morphine hyperalgesia gated through microglia-mediated disruption of neuronal Cl⁻ homeostasis.

Two images from the YDK lab are finalists for the ACFAS 2014 image contest:  "Un portrait de la douleur", by Louis-Étienne Lorenzo, and "Dans le vif du sujet" by Feng Wang and Erik Bélanger.

View all the images in the contest here: http://ici.radio-canada.ca/concours/la_preuve_par_l_image/2014/index.asp

Recent discoveries  explaining the mechanism of morphine induced hyperalgesia have been named one of the top 10 discoveries of 2013 by Québec Science.

Congratulations to co-first authors Francesco Ferrini & Tuan Trang and the rest of the team! 

2013: Le double jeu de la morphine

For explaining why morphine can paradoxically cause pain, and showing that the mechanisms underlying pain hypersensitivity are distinct from those causing morphine tolerance. 

Yves De Koninck personality of the week La Presse Radio-Canada for the week of October 21 2013, in recognition of his recent discoveries that could lead to the development of new pain relief drugs, and for receiving the Jacques Rousseau prize for multidisciplinarity.

Read this story in La Presse.

ACFAS has awarded Yves De Koninck the Jacques-Rousseau prize, for multidisciplinarity.  This prize was created to highlight the work of a researchers whose accomplishments have gone beyond his area of expertise and has built bridges between disciplines.  This award recognizes the efforts made by Dr De Koninck over the last 10 years to link neurosciences and optics-photonics.

Listen to Yves De Koninck in the radio series "Think about it", all about the brain, on CBC radio. 

De la douleur temporaire à la douleur chronique: que se passe-t-il? Quels sont les mécanismes en cause? Un trouble du système nerveux pourrait-il expliquer certaines souffrances? Le point sur les récentes et incroyables avancées de la recherche dans ce domaine.

Article : Differential Balance of Prefrontal Synaptic Activity in Successful versus Unsuccessful Cognitive Aging

January 2013 – Age Plus Prize Winner: Cyril Bories
Université Laval

Differential Balance of Prefrontal Synaptic Activity in Successful versus Unsuccessful Cognitive Aging

Le bioneurologue Yves De Koninck fait partie de l'équipe de chercheurs du Centre d'optique, photonique et laser de l'Université Laval grâce à laquelle on peut dorénavant observer en direct les échanges entre les cellules du cerveau.

Il pose sur le monde actuel, son regard de scientifique passionné pour l'infiniment petit. Qu'y a-t-il dans le cerveau d'Yves De Koninck?

https://www.mcq.org/en/produit-numerique?id=67426

Yves De Koninck is the personality of the week Le Soleil for the week of Februray 12, 2012, for the development of a microprobe.  This discovery was also named one of the ten discoveries of the year by Québec Science.  Read an interview by Jean-François Cliche with Yves De Koninck here (in French): 

http://www.lapresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/le-laureat/201202/11/01-4495...

2011: Lumière sur les neurones

For the development of a micro-optrode allowing optical and electrical recording from a single neuron in vivo.

Congratulations to Sophie Laffray on winning this award

2010 - Sophie Laffray - CIPI Young Photonic Innovator Award

2004 - Jeff Coull (Brain Star of the year)

Article  Trans-synaptic shift in anion gradient in spinal lamina I neurons as a mechanism of neuropathic pain.