A series of discoveries spanning the last decade has challenged our view of microglia, the brain’s innate immune cells, showing their essential but previously unexpected contribution to the remodelling of neuronal circuits. In this emergent field of investigation, research in Dr. Marie-Eve Tremblay’s laboratory at the Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria, aims to determine how this newly-defined mechanism could be implicated in the loss of neuronal connections that best correlates with the impairment of learning and memory across major depression, schizophrenia, aging, and neurodegenerative diseases.
The goal of our research is to design novel therapeutic strategies that specifically target microglia to promote brain resilience and healthy cognitive functions along the aging trajectory. We thereby aim to prevent and treat major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and the highly prevalent sporadic forms of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
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CAPI Research forum
On October 4th, 2024, at the University of Victoria, Dr. Marie-Ève Tremblay, Dr. Fernando González Ibáñez (postdoctoral fellow) and Parsa Khakpour (research associate) represented the Tremblay lab at the Asia Forum organized by the Center for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI).
CAPI is a research centre focused on research, education and community engagement in the Asia-Pacific. As part of the ASPIRE grant, The Tremblay lab has important collaboration with research teams in Japan. During their participation in the Asia Forum, Dr. Tremblay presented a talk titled “Studying the Brain Immune Cells to Promote Healthy Cognitive Aging” followed by a talk on electron microscopy by Dr. González Ibáñez titled “Advanced Electron Microscopy Imaging for Ultrastructural 3D Models in Neuroscience”.
See also https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/capi/index.php
“In preparation for our newly received ASPIRE grant that supports Canada-Asia research collaboration and focuses on training of young researchers through exchange, it was particularly useful to learn more about the approaches of our Asian researcher colleagues across various research fields. In that manner, this meeting provided excellent grounds for further networking and identification of various support resources within UVIC, both areas necessary for future collaborations.” (Dr. González Ibáñez, October 15, 2024)
Latest publications
Carrier et al. (2024) Iscience: Bone marrow-derived myeloid cells transiently colonize the brain during postnatal development and interact with glutamatergic synapses
Bobotis et al. (2024) Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience: Established and emerging techniques for the study of microglia: visualization, depletion, and fate mapping
Carrier et al. (2024) Brain, Behavior, Immunity: Behavioral as well as hippocampal transcriptomic and microglial responses differ across sexes in adult mouse offspring exposed to a dual genetic and environmental challenge