Dr. Sean Nestor awarded Mitacs Accelerate International Award
Congratulations to Dr. Sean Nestor, clinician investigator and interventional psychiatrist at Sunnybrook’s Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, on receiving the Accelerate International Award from Mitacs.
Mitacs is a not-for-profit research organization, funded by the Government of Canada and provincial governments, which works to bring innovation to more people in more places across Canada and around the world. The Accelerate International Award provides support of $90,000 to allow Canadian graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to participate in projects in Mitac’s partner countries, and international students to undertake projects in Canada. This award will allow two Sunnybrook graduate students to spend three months in Seoul, Korea.
As part of the project, the trainees will assess non-invasive qEEG biomarkers that predict response and relapse across the spectrum of neuromodulation interventions in major depression using a wireless dry-type EEG headset known as iSyncWave manufactured by iMediSync Inc. iMediSync Inc. is a Korea-based biotech start-up specializing in AI analytics and brain mapping techniques.
"Mitacs is thrilled to support this ground-breaking collaboration between iMediSync Inc., the University of Toronto, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. By leveraging iMediSync’s advanced EEG technology, this project promises significant advancements in the treatment of depression, a critical area of mental health research in Canada and Ontario,” says John Hepburn, CEO of Mitacs. “We are excited about the possibilities this partnership holds, including potential investments, as iMediSync continues to explore our innovation landscape. This initiative highlights the impact that international cooperation can have on improving health outcomes both at home and abroad.”
In addition to Dr. Nestor’s role as clinician-investigator at the Harquail Centre, he is an associate scientist in the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program at Sunnybrook Research Institute and an assistant director of the Clinician Researcher Track Residency Program in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.
His current research program at Sunnybrook combines neuroimaging and investigational neuromodulation techniques to understand the mechanisms of brain plasticity and dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric disorders. His lab operates one of Canada's only concurrent TMS-fMRI experimental platforms, and he currently leads therapeutic brain stimulation trials for post-concussive syndrome, treatment-resistant depression, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at Sunnybrook. He has been a co-investigator on investigational treatment trials involving deep brain stimulation for alcohol use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and high-frequency focused ultrasound treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder. He serves as a Canadian site principal investigator for the GenECT study and is a member of the ENIGMA Neuromodulation working group.
Dr. Nestor has received funding from CIHR, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Labatt Family Network for Research in Depression, the Tory Trauma Program, the Norris Scholars Award, and the Sunnybrook Foundation.
Congratulations, Dr. Nestor!
