The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (MNI), also known as Montreal Neuro or The Neuro, is a research and medical centre dedicated to

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

, training and clinical care, located in the city's

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with two integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive buil ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is part of the

McGill University Health Centre The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; ) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and one of the largest medical complexes in Montreal. It is the largest hospita ...

network and is situated on the southern slope of

Mount Royal Mount Royal (, ) is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The city's name is derived from the mountain's name. The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentian M ...

along the east side of University Street, just north of Pine Avenue. It was founded in 1934 by neurosurgeon

Wilder Penfield Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891April 5, 1976) was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. ...

, who developed the Montreal procedure there for the treatment of epilepsy.

History

The Montreal Neurological Institute originated from the Sub-Department of Neurosurgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital. The Neuro was created at the RVH in 1933, before it moved to its newly-constructed building across University Street. The cornerstone of The Neuro was laid on October 6, 1933. On September 27, 1934 Sir Edward Beatty, chancellor of

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, declared the institute formally opened.

The Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rock ...

provided funds to build and equip the laboratories of the institute and created an endowment fund of one million dollars in support of the scientific work of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery. The clinical, or hospital, part of the institute was built through donations from private individuals. The Province of Quebec and the City of Montreal agreed to be responsible for the hospital’s yearly operation. At the end of Penfield’s foundation address, he expressed the hope that the institute would act as a catalyst for Canadian neurology: “We dare to hope that this is the inauguration of an institute of medicine that is characteristically Canadian, the birth of a Canadian School of Neurology.”

Open Science

In 2016, The Neuro became the first academic institution of its kind in the world to implement in practice the principles of

open science Open science is the movement to make scientific research (including publications, data, physical samples, and software) and its dissemination accessible to all levels of society, amateur or professional. Open science is transparent and accessib ...

, when the Lawrence and Judith Tanenbaum Family Foundation donated $20M to establish the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute. Dr. Guy Rouleau, the current Director of The Neuro, was awarded the

Canada Gairdner Wightman award The Canada Gairdner Wightman Award is annually awarded by the Gairdner Foundation to a Canadian who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the field of medicine and medical science. Award winners SourceGairdner- Past Recipients{{columns-list, ...

in 2020, for identifying and elucidating the genetic architecture of neurological and psychiatric diseases, including ALS, autism and schizophrenia, and his leadership in the field of Open Science.

A Killam Institution

The Montreal Neurological Institute is a Killam Institution, supported by th
Killam Trusts
In 1966, the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Endowment Fund and Fund for Advanced Studies were established at the Montreal Neurological Institute through the bequest of Dorothy Johnston Killam. These funds support the academic and training mission of the Institute.

McConnell Brain Imaging Center

The McConnell Brain Imaging Center (BIC) is The Neuro's multimodal platform for neuroimaging and neuroinformatics research. Launched in 1984 by then MNI director Dr. William Feindel with the support of the McConnell Family Foundation, the BIC has grown into the largest neuroimaging facility in Canada. Julien Doyon is the director of the McConnell Brain Imaging Center. The BIC houses 3 core units: the

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and ...

(MRI) unit (jointly led by David Rudko and Christine Tardiff), the

positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including blood flow, r ...

(PET) unit (led by Jean-Paul Soucy) and the

magnetoencephalography Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a functional neuroimaging technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electric current, electrical currents occurring naturally in the human brain, brain, using very sensitive magn ...

(MEG) unit (led by Sylvain Baillet). Researcher at the BIC have access to a 3.0 Tesla (3T) MRI scanner (Siemens), the first full-body 7.0 Tesla (7T) MRI scanner (Siemens) in Canada, a 275-channel CTF MEG system,

electroencephalography Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignal, bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in ...

(EEG), and

transcranial magnetic stimulation Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive neurostimulation technique in which a changing magnetic field is used to induce an electric current in a targeted area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. A device called a st ...

(TMS), among others.

Directors

Wilder Graves Penfield Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891April 5, 1976) was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. H ...

, MD, 1934–1960 # Theodore Brown Rasmussen, MD, 1960–1972 # William Feindel, MD, 1972–1984 #

Donald Baxter Donald W. Baxter (August 24, 1926 – July 24, 2012) was a Canadian neurologist Emeritus Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University and former Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital. He gr ...

, MD, 1984–1992 & 2000–2002 # Richard A. Murphy, PhD, 1992–2000 # David R. Colman, PhD, 2002–2011 # Guy Rouleau, MD, PhD, 2011–present

Research Groups

* Cerebrvascular and Stroke *

Brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

Cognitive neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the Biology, biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental ...

Epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

* Neuroimmunological diseases * Neural circuits *

Neurodegenerative diseases A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Neuronal damage may also ultimately result in their death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, mul ...

Neuroimaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the neuroanatomy, structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive ...

and

neuroinformatics Neuroinformatics is the emergent field that combines informatics and neuroscience. Neuroinformatics is related with neuroscience data and information processing by artificial neural networks. There are three main directions where neuroinformatics ...

* Rare

neurological diseases Neurological disorders represent a complex array of medical conditions that fundamentally disrupt the functioning of the nervous system. These disorders affect the brain, spinal cord, and nerve networks, presenting unique diagnosis, treatment, and ...

Neurodevelopmental disorder Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of mental conditions negatively affecting the development of the nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. According to the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manu ...

References

{{authority control History of neurology Hospitals in Montreal Ville-Marie, Montreal Research institutes in Canada Hospitals affiliated with McGill University