Bold Minds premieres March 3, 2026 - subscribe to Bold Minds to be the first to hear about the latest brain research shaping our future!
There are many questions yet to decipher in brain disease research - but advances in neuroscience are providing new tools to explore how treatments may change the brain…making now the right time for the bold minds on the cutting edge to come together and find us the answers we need to improve the lives of Canadians and beyond!
Bold Minds premieres March 3, 2026, so subscribe to Bold Minds to be the first to hear about the latest brain research shaping our future!
Featured guests:
Dr. Anastassia Voronova, Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta
Dr. Gayatri Saraf, Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at University of Ottawa
Dr. Anthony Gifuni, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, and a Researcher and Psychiatrist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Trailer
[00:00:00] [inspiring music plays] Fiona: There are more than a thousand brain diseases and disorders. While research has started to decipher some of the mysteries of our minds, there are a lot of questions we still need answers to. Questions like, “Where do we need to start?” [whooshing]
[00:00:14] Dr Anastassia Voronova: I think we really need to understand how a cell typically functions, and how it starts to dysfunction in any disease before we can figure out how to repair that dysfunction, which is why fundamental science is so important. And we also don't know what we don't know. How are we gonna come up with a drug if we don't really understand the fundamentals of what we're trying to repair?
[00:00:36] Fiona: “Why is now the right time for new discoveries?” [whooshing]
[00:00:39] Dr Gayatri Saraf: We are just beginning to understand, with the current advances in neuroscience and brain imaging, so we are precipice of this time where we do have the tools to understand. So it's very exciting to begin explore some of these treatments might be changing the brain.
[00:00:58] Fiona: And, “How might this research help all Canadians?”
[00:01:02] Dr Anthony Gifuni: Treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy are extremely difficult for the body, with a lot of side effects. But shortly after initiating treatment, you have an image, or a blood marker that tells you, “Yeah, this treatment that is very expensive or very painful, it is working. The tumor's shrinking that marker there. It is diminishing at exactly the rate that we expect. So, continue go on with this treatment.” And we are lacking this in depression treatment, bipolar treatment, in psychiatry at large. And the goal really is to have such a therapeutic target. And I think from the perspective of a patient, it'll be so much more reassuring to know, “Okay, this is actually working.”
[00:01:53] Fiona: These are just a few of the questions that some of the boldest minds in Canadian research are working on answering together. They form a powerful community-- the next generation of scientists, built on mentorship, collaboration, and opportunity. [whooshing]
[00:02:09] Dr Ciaran Murphy-Royal: Canada's really pulling its weight, I think, in a lot of domains. I guess there's something special in the water here.
[00:02:15] Fiona: My name is Fiona Sanderson and I'm the host of a brand-new show from Brain Canada, Bold Minds. Each episode, I'll be speaking to future leaders - grant recipients, early career researchers with daring, innovative project ideas. The future of brain health needs bold minds. So, tune in for our debut on March 3rd to hear all about the latest brain research shaping our future. [music fades out]