ga Neurorehabilitation Research Centre: Dr. Lisa Koski

Lab Statement

Our overall research program focuses on predicting and enhancing motor and cognitive function in the context of neurological disorders, with a particular focus on geriatrics. Methods include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychological testing, behavioural performance evaluation, and rehabilitative therapies.

 

 



News

March 2020
Our clinical trial using rTMS for Alzheimer's disease is on pause for the moment while we isolate. However, we are ramping up our efforts at recruitment through social media so that people who are eligible to participate can be identified and enrolled as soon as possible when we return to more normal operations. We also continue to collect follow-up data remotely for participants already enrolled in the study.

January 2020
Koskilab has moved! The Alzheimer's trial using brain stimulation is now operating the Clinical Investigative Medicine unit (CIM) in Livingston Pavilion at the Montreal General Hospital.

August 2019
This month we welcome Melina Longo to our research team! We are still recruiting patients for our Alzheimer's clinical trial.

May 2019
We have now enrolled one-third of the total number of participants we have planned for our brain stimulation study in patients with Alzheimer’s. We are still accepting referrals so speak to your doctor about whether taking part in a brain stimulation study is right for you. Thanks to all the patients and their families who have given their time so far!

March 2019
Members of the research team visit Lower Canada College and reach out to other attendees at a screening of “Much Too Soon”, a powerful documentary about the ways that dementia affects patients and their families.

February 2019
Dr. Koski was interviewed by Mitsumi Takahashi on CTV News! You can click here to see the interview. She was also on the Aaron Rand Show, on CJAD 800 Radio speaking about our Alzheimer's Clinical Trial!

January 2019
January is Alzheimer’s awareness month! We are looking to recruit new patients for our clinical trial. If you are interested and would like more information, please click here.

September 2018 We welcome Sarah our new undergrad student who will be doing a project with us, as well as our volunteer student Victoria.

March 2018
Welcome to new recruit Lora Lehr, who will be assisting with assessments for the clinical trial of brain stimulation in Alzheimer’s.

February 2018
We have just re-launched our study of cognitive test performance in healthy older people. Once again, Rishanthi is travelling to retirement communities to give a short talk on normal cognitive changes in older age. With still another 15 participants to recruit, we are specifically looking for people over 80 years old.

January 2018
January was Alzheimer’s Awareness Month! Our clinical trial of rTMS for brain stimulation was covered in a flurry of media interviews and stories by the Montreal Gazette, Le Journal de Montreal, TVA/LCN, CTV and Breakfast TV. We continue to welcome calls from people interested in participating in the study, which will continue to enrol new patients over the next few years.

October 2017
Congratulations to Scott Holmes on a successful Ph.D. Oral Defense! With two of our PhD students graduating, we are looking forward to the upcoming convocation ceremony.

September 2017
We welcome our new volunteers who are interested in learning about clinical trials.

June 2017
We would like to congratulate our PhD student Julia Nantes for successfully defending her PhD oral defense this month! We would also like to welcome our summer student Marcus Sefranek to the lab.

May 2017
We would like to welcome Marylin Koayes to our lab. She is the new research assistant who will be administering the assessments for our Alzheimer's Study.

January 2017
NEW PROJECT INVESTIGATING TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC BRAIN STIMULATION FOR ALZHEIMER'S DEMENTIA! We are one of 3 sites recently funded to conduct a randomized clinical trial of rTMS for treatment of cognitive impairment in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

September 2016
Lisa Koski, Scott Holmes and Julia Nantes present work on multiple sclerosis project at ECTRIMS meeting in London, UK

August 2016
Julia Nantes receives Osler Travel Award to undertake collaborative research at Oxford University as part of her doctoral studies.

July 2016
Notification of award from the Weston Brain Foundation for a new project investigating non-invasive brain stimulation for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

February 2016
Scott attended the ACTRIMS meeting held in New Orleans, he was awarded a travel award from the conference. He presented work featuring results from a functional connectivity study on regions of the brain implicated in cuing adaptive cortical circuitry and their relationship to cognitive performance in patients with MS. This project was a part of Scott’s dissertation at McGill University.

June 2014
Mei presented her work entitled 'The pitfalls of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) revealed! A Rasch perspective of the GDS-15' at the MUHC's CORE Research Day that was held at the Montreal General Hospital. Mei also won a prize for having the best oral presentation. Congratulations Mei!

May 2014
Mei presented her work entitled 'The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15): Is cognitive ability associated with how geriatric patients respond to self-reported depressive symptoms?' at the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE) Knowledge Exchange Conference in Toronto, Canada. Mei's poster can be downloaded here.

April 2014
Mei was awarded a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship and Julia was awarded the Vanier Award. Congratulations to you both!

April 2014
Mei presented her work entitled 'Is Depression Appropriately Measured in Geriatric Outpatient Clinics? Rasch Analysis of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15)' at the Canadian Geriatrics Society Conference in Edmonton, Canada. Mei's poster can be downloaded here.

February 2014
Scott presented his work entitled 'Evaluating the efficacy of a short duration rTMS protocol to improve motor performance in patients with multiple sclerosis: a pilot study' at the endMS Neuroinflammation Symposium in Toronto, Canada. Scott was sponsored by the Quebec-Ottawa endMS regional research and training centre. Scott's poster can be downloaded here.

December 2013
The first edition of the TransMagMS Newsletter is now available and can be downloaded here. Le premier numéro de bulletin du TransMagMS est maintenant disponible et peut être téléchargé ici.

November 2013
Jidan and Julia both presented their research at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in San Diego. Jidan's poster can be downloaded here, while Julia's can be downloaded here.

September 2013
Mei Huang joins the Koski Lab as a graduate student.

July 2013
Elena Lebedeva leaves the Koski Lab team to go on maternity leave.

June 2013
A Pilot Study of Training and Compensation Interventions for Mild Cognitive Impairment was published in Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra


May 2013
Julia Nantes was awarded 1st prize in the ‘Structural and Functional Brain Analysis’ category at the GSAN Symposium in Neuroscience for her oral presentation entitled “White matter damage predicts intracortical inhibition during multiple sclerosis remission”.

March 2013
Julia Nantes presented her project entitled “Intracortical inhibition changes in multiple sclerosis: Damage or compesation?" at the Baycrest Research Conference in Toronto, Ontario.



Contact information


Dr. Lisa Koski
The Allan Memorial Institute, P2.142
McGill University Health Centre
1025 Pine Avenue West
Montréal, Quebec, H3A 1A1
Phone: (514) 934-1934, ext. 42612
Email: lisa.koski@mcgill.ca

Montreal General Hospital
1650 Cedar Avenue
Montreal, QC, H3G 1A4
Phone: (514) 934-1934, ext. 34439


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