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Brains Without Borders
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 Volume 2, Number 1 : Fall 2006
 
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Act globally 
Brains Without Borders 
McGill neuroscientists span political chasms 
By Jeff Roberts 

McGill neuroscience pioneer Herbert Jasper, seen here with colleague Wilder
Penfield, laid the groundwork for what would prove a long-running, vital network
of international research co-operation.
Courtesy of the Canadian Journal of Neurological SciencesWhen Herbert Jasper met
with a group of scientists in Moscow in 1958 to discuss the then fledgling
discipline of brain research, the prominent McGill neuroscientist had a definite
agenda-to reclaim science for the scientists. During the Cold War, science was
but another arena for the opposing camps to demonstrate their ideological
virility, whether by hurling Sputniks and Explorers into space or co-opting the
neurosciences for psychological warfare. 

Jasper and his colleagues in Moscow had an alternate vision for the world, one
that would allow researchers from every country to share ideas and discoveries
about the brain. What emerged two years later was the International Brain
Research Organization (IBRO). Incorporated in Canada by an act of Parliament,
the Paris-based IBRO is affiliated with UNESCO. Jasper served as its first
executive secretary. 

Nearly five decades later, another McGill neuroscientist, Dr. Albert Aguayo, is
president of IBRO. He says the need for science to bridge the gaps that divide
the world remains as important as ever. 


Albert Aguayo is president of the International Brain Research Organization
(IBRO), which fosters collaboration between 50,000 neuroscientists from more
than 100 countries.
Courtesy Montreal Neurological Institute"As we face new political schisms in the
world, this organization is serving to act as a bridge between polarized
regions," he says, citing a recent IBRO effort that increased formal contact
between members in Canada, Europe and the Middle East. 

IBRO works with 50,000 neuroscientists from more than 100 countries to foster
scientific co-operation and education around the world. It attracts heavyweight
talent as well. Aguayo, affiliated with the Centre for Research in Neuroscience
at McGill University and recipient of Canada's prestigious Killam Prize for
Health Sciences, is renowned for finding the first evidence that nerve cells can
regrow after being injured. He insists IBRO is not another First World
organization lending expertise to the poor cousins of the developing world. The
relationship is reciprocal, and he can list a number of advancements that began
in countries not normally so well known internationally for sophisticated
science. Chile, for instance, has been at the forefront of research in membrane
biophysics despite a shortage of resources. 

"Anything approached from a plane of superiority really misses the point," says
Aguayo. IBRO has furthered brain research that has yielded health and commercial
benefits for numerous countries, and led education initiatives such as African
workshops about treatment for parasite-induced epilepsy. 


Barbara Jones studies the neural workings of sleep. In spring 2006, she taught
at an IBRO school in Chile.
Claudio CalligarisIBRO has also boosted global research training through the
operation of 20 schools, where instructors bring together clinical neurology
with scientific study. McGill professors, including Aguayo and Ante Padjen
(pharmacology and therapeutics), have shared their expertise with students at
schools in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. 

"Students there are so excited to be able to participate in these courses," says
neurology and neurosurgery professor Barbara Jones, a sleep research specialist,
who taught at an IBRO school in Chile during the spring of 2006. Like Aguayo,
she regards IBRO as having a distinct mission, steadfast since its inception. 

"It was unique back then and it still is unique today, in that it's aimed at
bringing together all brain research from around the world," says Jones. In
blending experts from different fields, countries and continents, IBRO creates
"a rich and complex mix of scientists and their research" that she says is
critical for understanding health and the human body. 

Aguayo retains the idealism that led Jasper to Moscow 48 years ago. "What we're
trying to do is to share knowledge. This is a message that brings people
together and serves humankind." 

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