Publications

All publications may be viewed at the following link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/benedict.albensi.1/bibliography/public/

Academic Awards

• 2018 Weston Brain Institute Outstanding Achievement Award Nominee
• 2017 University of Manitoba Merit Award (research, service, teaching combo) $3000
• Weston Brain Institute Outstanding Achievement Award 2016 Nominee
• March 2013 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada Mentor Award, Wpg., MB
• Sept. 2012 Richard Hoeschen Award, $1000-B.Sc.(Med) Student Supervisors, MMSF/SBGHRC, Wpg., MB
• 2011 to current. Everett Endowment Fund Chair
• April 2007 Sanofi-Aventis Biotech Challenge Award of Appreciation, Wpg., MB
• 1998 U. of Kentucky Med. Ctr., Spring Neurosci. Day, 1st Prize-Best Poster (cash award)
• 1996 – 1997 Georgetown University Medical Center Research Fellowship
• 1994 William D. Carey Science Award – American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 1994 Medical Imaging Res. Lab Symp., Oral Finalist, Sundance, UT
• 1993 Graduate Research Fellowship Award, $5,000, Univ. of Utah

Active

2019-2022 – Effects of dietary flaxseed on memory and cognition. Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP). $430,746 total over 3 years.

2019-2024 Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Sex-based differences associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease. $725,985

2015 Manitoba Dementia Research Chair for 5 years. $500,000 over 5 yrs.

2014– 2019. Mitochondrial Function, Neural Plasticity, and Memory. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Discovery Grant. Principal Investigator. $130,000 total, $26,000/year.

2014-2017. Endowment – Everett family (Douglas Everett, former Canadian Senator and owner of the DOMO gasoline chain, etc.). Principal Investigator/Chair. Year 1, $42,697.

Past

2011-2014. Endowment – Everett family (Douglas Everett, former Canadian Senator and owner of the DOMO gasoline chain, etc.). Principal Investigator./Chair. Year 1, $43,000; Year 2, $24,466; Year 3, $35,000.

2009 – 2014. The Role of p50 NF-B and Egr-2 in Long Term Potentiation and Memory. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Discovery Grant. Principal Investigator. $125,000 total, $25,000/year.

2008 – 2013. Regulation of Brain Adenosine Levels by Ecto-enzymes and Membrane Transporters. Canadian Inst. of Health Research (CIHR), Operating Grant. Co-Principal Investigator, $599,205 total, ~$119,841/year.

2010 – 2012 Stroke Injury in Genetic Mouse Models. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC), Renewal, Co-Principal Investigator, $100,000 total, $50,000/year.

2008 – 2010. Hippocampal Gene Expression Profiling and the Possible Involvement of Homer1 in Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s Society of Canada. Principle Applicant, $130,000 total, $65,000/year.

2009-2010. Memory-Associated Gene-Expression Profiling During Aging. University of Manitoba’s Centre on Aging, Operating Grant, Principal Investigator, $10,000 total over 1 year.

2009. CFI-Partnering Grant. St Boniface Hospital and Research Foundation, Open Grants Competition, Principal Investigator, $6,500 total over one year.

2008 – 2010. Stroke Injury in Genetic Mouse Models. Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC),
Co-Principal Investigator, $90,000 total, $45,000/year.

2005 – 2010. Multidisciplinary 2-Photon Imaging of Calcium and Mitochondrial Dysregulation in Intact Tissues. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – Equipment Grant, Co-Principal Investigator, $1,004,835.

2007 – 2009. Regulation of Adenosine Levels. Canadian Inst. of Health Research (CIHR), Operating Grant (funded by RPP – MHRC). Co-Applicant, $182,184 total, $91,092/year.

2006 – 2009. The Role of sAPP and NF-B in Alzheimer’s Disease, Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada, Principal Investigator, $105,000 total, $35,000/year.

2006 – 2009. Roles for PS1 Mutations, Calcium Overload, and NF-B Activation in Synaptic and Cognitive Dysfunction, MHRC, Establishment grant. Principal Investigator, $100,000 total, ~$33,333/year.

2007 – 2008. Regulation of GABAergic Interneuron Migration and Differentiation in the Vertebrate Forebrain by DLX Transcription Factors. Manitoba Inst. of Child Health (MICH), Operating Grant.
Co-Applicant, $45,000 total, $22,500/year.

2007. Programmable Stimulus Generator and Multielectrode Array to Investigate New Electrical Stimulation Protocols for Relief from Seizure-Like Activity, Natural Sciences & Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Research Tools & Instruments Grant. Co-Applicant $79,835 total over one year.

2007. Diffusion-Weighted Imaging for Identifying Markers Associated with Brain Injury Leading to Alzheimer’s Disease. Manitoba Medical Service Foundation (MMSF), Principal Invest., $35,000 total 1 year.

2006 – 2007. Multidisciplinary 2-Photon Imaging of Calcium and Mitochondrial Dysregulation in Intact Tissues. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – Infrastructure Support, Co-Principal Investigator, $119,000.

2006 – 2008. Roles of PS1 Mutations and NF-B in Synaptic Plasticity and Alzheimer’s Disease, Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC), Operating grant. Principal Investigator, $100,000 total, $50,000/year.

2006 – 2007. Novel Electrical Stimulation Protocols for Relief From Epileptic Seizure-Like Activity, Dr. Paul H.T. Thorlakson Foundation Fund, Co-Investigator, $29,500.

2002. A Model of the Human Blood Brain Barrier Using Human Endothelial and Glial Cells. Berkeley Citizens Commission/Bayer Pharmaceutical Division, Principal Investigator, $25,000 USD.

1997 – 1998. MRI of Brain Injury in TNF Double Knock-Out Mice. Univ. of Kentucky, MRI Center Pilot Project Grant Award (during postdoc. appointment), Principal Investigator, $1,125 USD.

1993 – 1994. MRI of Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury in Neonatal Mice. Univ. of Utah Graduate Research Fellowship Grant (during PhD studies), Principal Investigator, $5,000 USD.

Dr. Wanda Snow

Several transcription factors, key regulators of gene expression, have been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. The transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is best known for its role in inflammation, but more recent studies implicate this factor in synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory. In Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by severe memory deficits, levels of this important gene regulator are altered. Creatine, an endogenous amino acid that regulates cellular energy, has been shown to activate NF-κB in neurons. Supplementation with creatine has been shown to enhance brain function and memory in healthy individuals and has been studied in clinical trials of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. It has not, however, been investigated as a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Albensi’s lab, I am currently carrying out several projects looking at the effects of creatine, including its effects on energy and transcriptional regulation in isolated neurons and its effects on memory and brain bioenergetics in healthy mice and in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease in the hopes of understanding if NF-κB signaling mediates the neurobeneficial effects of creatine. In addition, I am investigating plasticity-induced expression of the transcription factor early growth response-2 , also implicated in memory and a gene target of NF-κB, in the normal and AD-like mouse hippocampus using long-term potentiation. These studies are aimed at determining which transcriptional networks are affected in Alzheimer’s disease in efforts to uncover how memory becomes compromised in the disease and how best to treat or prevent memory impairments. This work was generously supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from Research Manitoba.

Dr. Jelena Djordjevic

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a late-onset, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by cognitive and memory decline, speech loss and personality changes, affecting almost 1 million elderly in Canada alone. Besides plaques and tangles, a cascade of other pathological events ranging from synaptic dysfunction, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation, are routinely detected in patients. Some scientists suspect that brain metabolism and mitochondrial function become altered early in AD, and these alterations, which include deficits in ATP generation, may be gender dependent. The focus of my research is centered on the mitochondrial bioenergetics in animal models engineered to mimic the brain pathology seen in Alzheimer’s disease (3xTg and CRND8 mice), since mitochondria play active roles in synaptogenesis and morphological and functional responses to synaptic activity. The goal is to characterize the mitochondrial impairments at different points in disease progression, to address sex differences in mitochondrial dysfunction in AD, and to establish the connection with inflammatory signaling, which is known to affect brain energy metabolism. This work was generously supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from Research Manitoba.

Dr. Aida Adlimoghaddam

Currently, as a postdoctoral fellow, I am working on two main projects:

First project: How memory is impaired by Alzheimer’s disease (AD; most common form of dementia) and vascular dementia (VD; second most common form of dementia). To discriminate these different type of dementia, I am using both in vitro and in vivo mouse models of AD and VD in conjunction with pathological/inflammatory markers, cell and molecular techniques, electrophysiological methods, and neuroimaging.

Second project: The characterization of an altered ammonia transport system that contributes to AD. My focus is to investigate the effects of ammonia exposure on the brain nitrogen transport system and brain mitochondrial function using an in vitro mouse model of AD. I am a recipient of a Research Manitoba Fellowship to investigate the second project.

My long-term goal for both projects is to develop new treatments for improving memory as a result of the mentioned diseases/conditions.