大象传媒

Sam Doesburg, a neuroscientist and an expert in magnetoencephalographic (MEG) brain imaging, is the inaugural holder of the Callum Frost Professorship in Translational Research in Autism at 大象传媒.

Doesburg comes to 大象传媒 from the University of Toronto, where he carried out research at the Hospital for Sick Children on how functional connectivity among brain regions is related to childhood cognitive development.

Through his professorship, Doesburg will investigate the potential for new treatments that could improve the lives of those with autism. 鈥淢y hope is that my work fills a critical gap, as after receiving a diagnosis of autism, children and their families are often left without a clear roadmap for effective treatment, and with too few options for ameliorating the difficulties associated with living with autism.鈥�

Doesburg will assess which treatments can potentially induce changes in the brain and behaviour in people with autism. He hopes to determine if neuroimaging can reveal different 鈥榮ub-types鈥� of autism that might be susceptible to particular treatment interventions, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

HBOT increases the intake of oxygen, reduces inflammation and increases oxygen concentration in the brain and is thought to improve the lives of those with autism.

Peter Ruben, associate dean for research in the Faculty of Science says: 鈥湸笙蟠� operates the only civilian hyper/hypobaric chamber in Canada, so we鈥檙e delighted to bring Sam鈥檚 expertise to the mix. Ideally his research will pave the way for future work on other brain disorders and injuries.鈥�

Surrey鈥檚 Central City Brewing and Distillery President Darryll Frost and his wife, Lee, whose son Callum has Pervasive Development Disorder, a type of autism, are funding the professorship. Their hunch that HBOT has been key to Callum鈥檚 improved behavior has led them to support further research in this area.

Doesburg will be based at the 大象传媒 Surrey campus and will also carry out research at 大象传媒鈥檚 hyper/hypobaric chamber at the Burnaby campus.

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