One year after announcing a groundbreaking affiliation agreement, Shriners Hospitals for Children Canada and Children’s Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) are proud to announce a joint, pan-Canadian research initiative targeting rare childhood bone disorders.

In August of 2024, the two institutions announced a groundbreaking five-year funding investment through collaboration with Shriners Children’s and Children’s Health Foundation. Following a competitive internal grant competition, the grant will support the Skeletal Tracking to Accelerate Research (STAR) Program, which is an ambitious effort to uncover the mechanisms behind rare bone diseases and to improve care for children across Canada. The STAR Program will be supported by a $400,000 joint research grant to be funded over two years.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive review of direct measurement techniques for optical and chemical properties of atmospheric aerosols, as well as the impacts of aerosols on climate and environment, and health risks associated with exposure to high concentrations of ultrafine particles. It serves as a valuable reference for advancing future research and instrumentation development in the field of aerosol science.

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) is leading 24 clinicians from the region and beyond to set up Southeast Asia’s first consortium dedicated to tackling dementia.

The Southeast Asian Consortium on Neurocognition, Neuroimaging and Biomarker Research Plus (SEACURE+) will pool resources and data representative of the region’s 700 million people to better understand the unique traits of the Southeast Asian brain and develop a harmonised approach to prevent and manage dementia.

Scientists have succeeded in mapping a piece of brain tissue in 3D at unprecedented resolution and non-destructively using X-rays at the Swiss light source SLS. The breakthrough overcomes a long-standing technological barrier that had limited the use of X-rays for such studies. Now, the path lies open to imaging much larger samples of brain tissue at high resolution – and to gaining new understanding of its complex architecture. The study, a collaboration between Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, is published in Nature Methods.