With a vision of establishing Ontario as a world leader in brain research, commercialization and care, the Ontario Brain Institute team prioritizes providing support and resources to those impacted by brain disorders. Recognizing that brain health is global , OBI is aligning Ontario’s strengths with those of global partners to supercharge collaborative neuroscience efforts.
“In joining national and international neuroscience and data sharing initiatives, OBI’s assets and expertise will be fully leveraged to better understand the brain and deliver better treatments,” said Dr. Tom Mikkelson, President and Scientific director. “It is heartening to see, in the exemplary work of our partners, OBI’s commitment to advancing brain health reflected back to us.”
In November 2023, OBI cemented its membership in the Dementia Research and Innovation Funders Alliance by participating in the Alliance’s inaugural meeting. While OBI co-develops a community-based dementia research initiative through the new CORTEX program, its other investments in neurodegeneration through commercialization, community engagement, and informatics/data sharing are contributing significantly to the field. Notably, the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative dataset on Brain-CODE contributes to a shared understanding of dementia-related disorders.
Also late last year, OBI was welcomed by the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility as an inaugural member of the Neuroscience Community. “For more than 10 years, the Ontario Brain Institute has fostered an integrated approach for neuroscience discovery to improve brain health. By combining ideas and expertise from patients, researchers, and industry, we've created a powerful ecosystem of innovation using data, analytics, and AI,” said Dr. Francis Jeanson, Head of OBI’s Centre for Analytics and Co-Lead of the Neuroscience Community. “But we can't do this alone. With the Neuroscience Community, we have a genuinely international opportunity to combine efforts and reach breakthroughs faster.
In March 2024, OBI joined EIT Health, established as the knowledge and innovation community of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), as a partner in their scientific community of practice. Uncharacteristically for EIT Health, whose primary aim is to foster innovation in Europe, three of this year’s eight new members are based outside of Europe, with OBI being the only Canadian member.
“Strengthening our international relationships mutually supports our innovators to reach new territories whilst opening up opportunities for us to share access to resources including new technologies, funding sources and research."
- Jean-Marc Bourez, EIT Health Chief Executive Officer
I’m therefore extremely pleased to welcome Ontario Brain Institute [and other new members] who all bring unique strengths to EIT Health that ensure our organisation continues to create solutions that matter.”
In the same month, OBI was presented as a founding partner in the Brain Health Index (BHI) at a Brain Health Nexus governance workshop. Although work to develop deploys this open-source app designed to measure and monitor brain health across the lifespan is only just underway, the initiative aligns with OBI’s principles of research excellence, standardization, patient-centeredness, and translational focused.
And finally, as a member of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy (CBRS), during Brain Awareness Week, OBI supported the creation and promotion of a national campaign to build a stronger brain research ecosystem. Collaborative efforts led by CBRS results in an online feature in The Globe and Mail as well as a print ad in the newspaper.
Read CBRS’s call for a unified, national brain research strategy.
Header image courtesy of the Global Alliance for Genomics & Health
