The Leavitt Lab at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics within BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Canada is dedicated to developing new treatments for hereditary brain diseases, such as Huntington disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, Lou Gehrig’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Pyridoxine-dependent Epilepsy (PDE).

We use the tools of modern molecular biology to generate transgenic animal models, including a well-characterized mouse model of PDE, in addition to novel cellular models of human disease. New approaches to treatment are then tested in these disease models, with the express goal of accelerating the progress of new treatments for neurological disorders from the bench to the clinic.

Our resources include computational biology support, a full molecular biology laboratory with dedicated cell culture facilities, and histology capabilities. We have a sophisticated mouse behavioral testing unit allowing phenotypic characterization of large numbers of transgenic mice using a standardized behavioral protocol, as well as a dedicated small animal surgical suite allowing a variety of surgical procedures including administration of stem cells, antisense oligonucleotides, or gene therapy vectors directly into the central nervous system.

On the photo from left to right Professor Blair R. Leavitt who is leading the Charlie Team consisting of Hilal Al-shekaili, Postdoctoral Fellow and Muna Abedrabbo, Phd student.

Author: Muna Abedrabbo