To apply for a grant to support your registration fees and travel costs of attending the symposium, please fill out the MitoCanada 2012 UMDF Symposium Funding Application form and submit this application to MitoCanada by April 15, 2012 to support@mitocanada.org, or by mail to:
MitoCanada
238 Pettigrew Trail
Milton, ON, L9T 5X6

This MitoCanada grant program is open to Canadian residents only.

Please find a summary below of the research being conducted:

Identification of Serum Factors Responsible for Systemic Mitochondrial Biogenesis
Mark Tarnopolsky, M.D., Ph.D., FRCP(C); Justin Crane, M.Sc.; Adeel Safdar, Ph.D.; Arkan Abadi, Ph.D.
Neuromuscular and Neurometabolic Clinic,
McMaster University Medical Center

We have shown that long-term endurance exercise provided dramatic clinical protection in essentially all tissues in the body of a mouse model of mitochondrial disease (POLG1 mice). The protection extended to tissues not traditionally associated with exercise benefits including; gonads, skin, fur, eyes, lung and kidneys. This indicated that a systemic factor released in response to exercise was acting on distant tissues very much like a hormone. Our MitoCanada funded research will allow us to further identify these factors. The funding will partially support two major studies. The first is a cross-sectional study of 100 men and women between the ages of 20 and 86 with half being well trained athletes and half being sedentary controls. Analysis of mitochondrial function will be performed on cheek cells, skin, urine sediment (kidney cells) and blood to determine if systemic benefits that we saw in the mice also relate to humans. The second aspect will be to try and identify the factors which confer systemic mitochondrial protection. To do this we will be culturing skin cells in the presence of serum from humans at rest and following exercise. First, we will identify the time of post-exercise where the serum has the beneficial effect on mitochondrial biogenesis and use that serum for proteomic analysis (identifying proteins) that are responsible for the effect. The long term goal is to identify a protein or proteins that could be injected in patients who cannot exercise to protect the mitochondria in multiple tissues. Overall, these results are likely to have significant implications for human aging, muscle physiology, exercise science and, most importantly, mitochondrial medicine.

Please see the article below that appeared in the Guide de Montréal-Nord on November 14, 2011.

http://www.guidemtlnord.com/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9/Vie%20communautaire/2011-11-14/article-2804166/1700-pour-la-recherche-sur-les-maladies-mitochondriales/1

Le bal Mito mascarade a amassé 1700 $ au profit de Mito Canada vendredi le 4 novembre à la salle de réception Prima Luna. La première soirée campagne de financement de Lidia Marandola et Irene Manicone a rassemblé une quarantaine d’invités. La fondation Mito Canada encourage la sensibilisation et la recherche sur les maladies mitochondriales et offre un soutien aux Canadiens touchés par ces maladies.

Click here to view the article online

On June 2, 2011, Dr. Kyle Mclaughlin, MD, CCFP(EM) presented a talk about Mitochondrial Disease during the Department of Emergency Medicine Rounds at the University of Calgary.

You can listen to and view the presentation on a podcast produced by the Physicians Learning Program at: http://albertaplp.ca/mitocanada-mitochondial-disease/?id=659.  

Please share and pass along this great discussion of mitochondrial disease from one physician working to raise awareness and educate other physicians about mito.

Across the globe the week will be marked with various educational, fundraising and advocacy efforts all designed to raise awareness about mitochondrial disease.

For more information about the global efforts to spread awareness of mitochondrial disease, please see the website: http://www.gmdaw.org

MitoCanada will be participating in Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week with the annual “Running on Empty” Mito Family Walk & Roll in Hamilton, Ontario on September 17th.

The “Running on Empty” Ultramarathon for this year will be just before Mito Awareness Week on August 28th.

Our MitoEvents page has all the details at: http://www.mitocanada.org/mitoevents/

Please join in to spread awareness any way you can!