$200,000 awarded to Dr. Collin Luk at the University of Alberta.
Traditional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an excellent, non-invasive tool for helping doctors diagnose and monitor the progression of diseases like brain cancer or multiple sclerosis, and researchers continue to explore ways it can prove successful in identifying and understanding ALS.
With this award, Dr. Collin Luk will seek to validate an advanced MRI technique, called texture analysis, with the goal it could one day be used as a biological marker, or “biomarker,” of the onset and progression of ALS. Using this technique, Dr. Luk can detect very subtle changes in a brain image that are not visible with a regular MRI scan.
In order to validate this method, Dr. Luk will analyze MRI scans from people living with ALS and compare those with scans of post-mortem brain tissue generously donated from people who had ALS. The brain tissue will also be examined for pathological changes to ensure that the MRI scans accurately reflect the changes happening in the brain on a cellular level. He will collaborate with the Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC) to validate his findings.
If this new method proves to be successful, a non-invasive MRI scan could help predict disease progression, making it possible for people living with ALS to enroll in clinical trials earlier. It could also give researchers the tools they need to better evaluate the effectiveness of promising new treatments.
While completing this fellowship work, Dr. Luk will also be actively trained to provide care for people living with ALS as a neurologist at the University of Alberta clinic in Edmonton. Combining this cutting-edge clinical research work with a first-hand experience as a care provider will undoubtedly make Dr. Luk an asset in the drive towards a better understanding of the disease and achieving better treatment options.