Douglas trainees awarded Tri-Agency scholarships and fellowships

It has been estimated that nearly 1 million Canadians will be living with dementia by 2031. Alzheimer's disease, its most common cause, begins to develop silently and over decades before clear symptoms arise, and today, nearly half of Alzheimer's cases remain unidentified until the latest stages of disease development. One promising early warning sign is a worry expressed by many older adults over their perceived decline in abilities to find words. Until recently, these complaints were brushed off as signs of normal aging. However, new research shows that these "word-finding" difficulties may in fact be linked to early changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, the tools most commonly used in clinical practice are unable to capture subtle changes in language abilities. They often only rely on whether or not a person is able to give a correct answer, neglecting to account, for example, the time taken to get there. To address existing limitations, our project aims to assemble existing state-of-the-art tasks of language measurement and combine them into a single, gold standard battery which we will promote the use of in clinical practice. It will be aimed at detecting subtle changes in speech and naming abilities, adapting in real time to performance and will be completable on a tablet and provide instantaneous results. Over the next five years, we will develop this new tool and examine its performance and attributes in comparison to existing methods and self-reported concerns, notably how accurately it can detect underlying brain changes linked to Alzheimer's disease. Our work will result in a freely available, scientifically validated, gold standard method to detect and monitor Alzheimer's disease at its earliest stages of development. When interventions are most likely to make a difference. This new tool should return power to clinicians, but more importantly, older adults expressing concerns about their perceived declining abilities.

We usually know where we are and which way we’re facing without a second thought. These senses are essential for us to navigate, make decisions, and remember everyday experiences. We acquire them instinctively, thanks to specialized brain cells. Among them are head-direction cells, which become active when we face specific directions. Together, they form an internal “compass” that constantly tracks the direction for us. Unlike a magnetic compass, the brain’s compass anchors to visual landmarks in the environment. When landmarks are stable, the compass is steady. When a landmark moves, head-direction cells change their activity so that the “North” of our compass rotates with it -- a process called reorientation. This process allows us to quickly adapt to new surroundings. Recent work from Dr. Brandon's lab shows that the head-direction cell activity temporarily decreases during reorientation, potentially making the system flexible and easy to reset. However, the cause of this decrease remains unknown. We think that top-down signals, through connections between two brain regions, the retrosplenial cortex and the thalamus, drive this reduction in activity, allowing the brain's compass to reorient. By testing this idea, our study will reveal how the brain maintains a stable sense of direction in changing environments. In the long run, this knowledge may also shed light on why orientation breaks down in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Suicidal behaviours are the number one cause of hospitalizations and deaths among Canadian youth (18-25 years old). Brain synapses are the biological backdrop for the thoughts, emotions and behaviours leading to major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicide. However, the synaptic mechanisms putting youth at risk are unclear. At synapses, the flow of chemical elements switches neuronal cells on and off in a frequency and intensity governed by cells termed microglia and astrocytes. The resulting symphony of activity promotes survival, but errors in synaptic modulation may make individuals more vulnerable to suicidal behaviours—in particular, during youth, when synapses are intensely modified. At the extremities of microglia and astrocytes, transient genetic material known as RNA can modulate synaptic activity and alter behavioral responses in animal models. Still, RNAs in cellular extremities are elusive, since most studied genetic material is inside or around cellular nuclei. We hypothesize that MDD and suicidal behaviours are associated with disturbed distribution of nuclear/non-nuclear RNAs in the frontal cortex, a brain region crucial for decision-making, reasoning and impulse control. We investigate this by optimizing single RNA detection within microglial and astrocytic extremities surrounding synapses in the post mortem frontal cortex of young individuals with MDD who died by suicide (cases), compared to matched sudden-death controls (controls). We expand these findings with in situ sequencing of RNA, a method that can produce detailed, high throughput maps of RNA within cellular nuclei and extremities in post-mortem brain of cases and controls. As the first application of in situ sequencing in psychiatric samples, this work will identify a potential mechanism for how synapses, the building blocks of the brain, are affected in youth MDD and suicide, opening new avenues for understanding—and ultimately intervening in—suicide prevention.

Cannabis use is common among adolescents and young adults in Canada. While previous research has explored the link between cannabis use and depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviour, it is still uncertain whether these relationships are causal or correlational in nature. Genetics is also a factor in both cannabis use and mental health outcomes, however there is a lack of research that explains whether the genetics for anxiety, depression, and suicidality and cannabis use are related. Additionally, there may be differences in how cannabis impacts mental health based on sex and gender, though this area has been underexplored. This project has three main objectives: 1) to test whether the associations between cannabis use and depression, anxiety, and suicidality are causal or correlational, 2) to investigate possible gene-environment interactions that may influence these relationships, and 3) to explore sex- and gender differences in these associations. For the first objective, I will use three complementary analytical approaches to assess the causality between cannabis use and mental health: propensity scoring, Mendelian randomization, and co-sibling modelling. These approaches all use genetic information to better control for confounding factors that could explain the association between cannabis use and mental health outcomes. For the second objective, I will measure genetic predispositions, called polygenic scores, for various traits and disorders such as depression and impulsivity. Polygenic scores will then be used study the association between cannabis use and our target mental health outcomes. For the third objective, I will explore how sex and gender modify these relationships by doing separate analyses for males, females, and gender categories. This research will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of cannabis-related mental health risks and support the development of targeted prevention and intervention strategies.

Women in midlife are among Canada's most active gamers, and many of them are turning to casual mobile games, like puzzle or card games, not just to pass the time, but as a way to decompress from genuinely demanding lives. Balancing careers, caregiving, and the physical and emotional shifts of perimenopause and menopause, women aged 45 to 60 face a significant stress load, and they are already finding some relief in everyday play.
 This project asks whether we can intentionally build on that relief. By embedding optional micro-interventions, brief 30-second wellness activities such as guided breathing or personal reflection, directly into a researcher-designed mobile puzzle game, this study explores whether those moments can meaningfully support stress regulation and perceived well-being. Designed to feel like a natural part of the game, micro-interventions would take the place of the commonly used in-game reward advertisement, preserving player autonomy over whether and when they engage.
 The study is guided by feminist human-computer interaction and self-determination theory, employing a participatory design approach throughout. Women in midlife will help co-design the serious game before a pilot evaluation, and their experiences, measured through validated stress scales, gameplay analytics, and qualitative interviews, will inform how future digital wellness tools are developed and refined.
 Ultimately, this work aims to show that everyday gaming can be more than a pastime. With evidence-informed design, it may offer midlife women a small but meaningful moment of support built into something they already enjoy.

Video game streams that combine traditional broadcasting with online gaming have become a popular form of media in the past decade. While youth use and enjoy streams, it is not yet understood why they are motivated to spend their time using streams and how this impacts their mental health. To address these gaps, this doctoral project will adopt a two-part research strategy. Phase 1 will synthesize existing knowledge (systematic scoping review), while Phase 2 will prospectively examine the extent of stream use among youth, along with their motivations and experiences (cross-sectional survey), offering theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to knowledge. 

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face unique workplace challenges that go beyond attention problems. Many struggle with communication, teamwork, and supervisor relationships, leading to frequent job changes, unemployment, and reduced quality of life. Current treatment options focus on managing core ADHD symptoms like distractibility and time management, but overlook important social factors that may underlie these interpersonal difficulties. Recently, research has suggested that these challenges in socio-cognitive functioning may stem from subtle differences in how people with ADHD understand others' thoughts and emotions, known as "theory of mind" and empathy. To address this research gap, we will investigate social cognition in ADHD in three steps. First, we will compare social-cognitive abilities between adults with and without ADHD. We will then determine whether these differences mediate the relationship between ADHD symptoms and key workplace outcomes like quality of work relationships and quality of work life. Finally, we will develop and test an enhanced workplace intervention that specifically targets these socio-cognitive skills against traditional ADHD workplace supports. This study aims to address a critical gap in ADHD treatment by identifying theory of mind and empathy as potential therapeutic targets. The novel intervention could be implemented across clinical settings, employee assistance programs, and occupational health services throughout Canada. By addressing social functioning in ADHD, this work could contribute to reducing workplace stigma, promoting neuroinclusive employment practices, and providing evidence-based strategies that help Canadian workers with ADHD thrive professionally.