CFI funding boosts 14 UBC projects, including research into how motor circuits form

Developmental neuroscientist Kota Mizumoto, whose lab is using worms to investigate how synaptic patterns affect locomotion, is one of 14 UBC researchers receiving funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation today.

The university received $1.55 million from the John R Evans Leaders Fund for research programs across UBC’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. Research into pancreatic cancer and disease disparities between sexes is also among the projects receiving support.

“This funding provides our researchers with new tools and equipment they need to examine issues like disease and wildfire,” said John Hepburn, UBC Vice-President, Research and International. “We’re grateful to the Canada Foundation for Innovation for their continued support.”

Mizumoto’s team uses Caenorhabditis elegans to understand the role of the fine motor circuit at the level of single neurons and synapses in locomotion. The worm has no skeletal structures or joints, enabling the researchers to directly test how the synaptic pattern of motor neurons affects movement.

“This funding will enable us to invest in a laser scanning microscope with a next-generation super-resolution detector system,” says Mizumoto. “It will allow us to capture very detailed neuronal structures in live worms.”

Elizabeth Rideout, an assistant professor in the department of cellular and physiological sciences, studies the differences between men and women in the development of disease like diabetes. She is using the funding for equipment that measures gene expression.

The Honourable Minister Harjit Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, was on campus to announce the funding. He toured Kopp’s and Rideout’s laboratories in the Life Sciences Institute.