ALS Canada: Committed to the bright future of Canada’s ALS researchers

Dr. Gary Armstrong, recipient of the inaugural award in 2015, says he is “absolutely ecstatic” to hear about the announcement.  Dr. Armstrong’s lab at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University studies zebrafish to learn what’s different at the cellular level in the spinal cords of these ALS animal models. After his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Armstrong was hoping to secure a university position where he would have the greatest freedom to pursue his own research. “There were limited options out there. I absolutely knew winning this award would open the door for me,” he explains. “Without it, my options would have meant that I had to choose to leave science altogether or work for a pharmaceutical company.”

Dr. Chantelle Sephton runs her lab at the CERVO Brain Research Centre in Quebec where she studies how mutations in RNA binding proteins may cause the neurodegeneration observed in ALS . “This award really sets you up for success,” she says. “It gives talented young researchers a big advantage landing a position with an academic institution because they can see you’ve already been supported by an external organization.”

Gaining visibility within the ALS research community is also an important benefit of receiving the ALS Canada Career Transition Award. “It serves as a catalyst for further funding as well as collaborations and a platform to show others in Canada what you’re doing,” adds Dr. Sephton. Another award recipient, Dr. Kessen Patten, an Assistant Professor at the Centre INRS- Institut Armand Frappier in Laval, agrees. He says scientific results generated from work funded by the award gave him a competitive edge and positive exposure that led to a $1 million endowed research chair from an individual donor so he could continue his research.

Fresh new ideas are critical for advancing our understanding of ALS, says Dr. Jeehye Park, Canada Research Chair with the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) Research institute in Toronto. “It takes years to generate and characterize good scientific models that recapitulate the ALS features,” she explains. “The ALS Canada Career Transition Award needs to be a priority. Receiving this award gives us hope and the confidence that we can solve this.”

Since losing a family member to ALS, Dr. Veronique Belzil, Research Fellow in Neuroscience at the Mayo Clinic, has made finding a cure her life’s mission. She says the award is important not only for attracting young researchers but also for retaining those rising stars to make a lifelong commitment to the field of ALS research. “There’s so much we still need to do,” she says.