Support to Research Projects to Improve Brain Health

Health Canada, through the Canada Brain Research Fund (CBRF) Program has committed an overall federal investment of $200 million to Brain Canada in support of brain health discoveries. Awarded through Brain Canada’s 2021 Platform Support Grants Program, these projects are supported by Health Canada and matched funding from Brain Canada’s sponsors, donors and partners.

April 28, 2023

Health Canada, through the Canada Brain Research Fund (CBRF) Program has committed an overall federal investment of $200 million to Brain Canada in support of brain health discoveries. Awarded through Brain Canada's 2021 Platform Support Grants Program, these projects are supported by Health Canada and matched funding from Brain Canada's sponsors, donors and partners. These projects will improve health outcomes for Canadians by advancing knowledge of the brain through research.

These projects include:

CanStroke Recovery Trials: Platform Expansion Proposal
Sean Dukelow, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB
Health Canada/CBRF funding: $1,757,500.00
Total grant amount: $3,515,000.00

This project will expand the existing Canadian Stroke Recovery Clinical Trials platform (CanStroke), which includes eight sites across Canada. This expansion will not only increase the platform's capacity to support clinical trials but will benefit the research community and the broader stroke population through expanded diversity and representation in patient recruitment, creation of an open access database, and training programs to ensure long-term improvements in stroke recovery.

The Brain Single Cell Initiative
Trevor Pugh, University Health Network - Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON
Health Canada/CBRF funding: $2,508,000.00
Total grant amount: $5,016,000.00

The Brain Single Cell Initiative will help develop a Canadian national core facility dedicated to making single-cell genomics technology available to brain researchers. This technology allows researchers to map cells and measure the molecular information they contain. With the use of single-cell genomics, a large number of fundamental scientific challenges, such as how diseases develop within our cells and how the brain repairs itself, are now much closer to being solved.
This research has the potential to benefit the health of all Canadians who suffer from brain diseases by promoting a better understanding of how diseases develop within cells and how the brain repairs itself.