R & D NEWS

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New Cellular and Biomolecular Centre Opens at U of T
Last month saw the opening of a new research centre at the University of Toronto (U of T) (Toronto, ON) that will bring a diverse group of researchers together under one roof.
The Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (CCBR) connects to the Medical Sciences, Tanz Neuroscience and Rosebrugh buildings, and supports up to 400 researchers from the faculties of medicine, pharmacy, applied science and engineering, and arts and science.
The $105-million centre — which was funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (Ottawa, ON), the Ontario government, U of T’s infrastructure investment fund and private donors — will serve as a collaborative classroom, providing lab and teaching facilities to over 300 students and 100 post-doctoral fellows, who, along with researchers, will work toward understanding the molecular underpinnings of disease processes.

Prostate Cancer Survival Increased With Long-Term Hormone Treatment
Long-term hormone therapy might buy high-risk prostate cancer patients some much needed time.
Researchers from the BC Cancer Agency (Victoria, BC) have discovered that following radiation therapy with more than a year of hormone treatment allows patients to live longer and have better control over their level of prostate specific antigen (PSA), a protein released from the prostate that is used as a measure of cancer progression.
The study followed 307 patients with PSA levels greater than 20 who received external beam radiation along with hormone therapy. The patients were split into two groups, one receiving short-term hormone therapy (less than 12 months), and the other receiving long-term therapy (more than 12 months).
The short-term group demonstrated a 75 per cent survival rate, compared to 87.5 per cent for the long-term group. Additionally, 62.5 per cent of the long-term group demonstrated greater control over their PSA levels, versus 37 per cent in the short-term group.
The findings were published in a recent issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics.

CIHR Grants Record-breaking $354M for Health Research
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (Ottawa, ON) has announced its largest-ever funding for health research, granting $354 million to support more than 1,600 projects.
The projects cover a wide range of topics, such as the impact of menopause and estrogen on cardiovascular disease in older women, which is being examined by Sandra Davidge, PhD of the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB); how cells normally die and how alterations in these processes can lead to diseases such as cancer, being researched by Sharon Gorski, PhD from the BC Cancer Research Centre (Vancouver, BC); and the study of remote organ injury that occurs during sepsis, conducted by Peter Kvietys’s, PhD research lab at the Centre for Critical Illness at the Lawson Health Research Institute (London, ON).
The projects, which were selected through a peer-review process, will be conducted over the course of one to five years.

Alcohol May Improve Brain Function
It turns out that bellying up to the bar for a pint may not only lift your spirits, it might increase your mental sharpness as well.
A study conducted by researchers from the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (Pittsburgh, PA) found that seniors who engage in mild to moderate drinking show less decline in cognitive function than seniors who do not drink at all.
The study followed 2,000 southwestern Pennsylvania residents age 65 and older for an average of seven years. Assessed for mental function at the beginning of the study, and every two years thereafter, the seniors were split into three groups: non-drinking, mild drinking (once a month or less) and moderate drinking (more than once a month).
After taking tests that measured mental status, executive function and psychomotor speed, those in the mild and moderate drinking groups showed less decline in scores than non-drinking participants. Minimal drinkers also showed less decline on tests that measured learning.
The researchers stipulated that this may in part be due to the fact that often those who quit drinking do so because they are already of poor health. Alternatively, alcohol may provide cardiovascular benefits, such as keeping the brain’s blood vessels clear.
The findings were published in Neurology.