Canada is ramping up efforts to prevent children from ever developing cerebral palsy, autism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The greatest hope may lie in treating at-risk children before they are born.

There are currently no drugs or treatments that can cure a child with cerebral palsy (CP), autism or a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). But that could change over the next decade as a result of the largest scientific effort of its kind to study, repair and prevent damaged brains in children.

The Canadian government has provided the vehicle and the funding that will enable researchers, neurological institutes and children’s hospitals across the country to collaborate on new ways to treat, cure or prevent brain dysfunction in unborn children, and in young children who are already affected.

NeuroDevNet, one of the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence, received $19.5 million over five years to bring together more than 70 researchers from the health, physical and social sciences to study the genetic and environmental causes of autism, CP and FASD.

“These are people who share a passion in understanding brain development,” says Dr. Daniel Goldowitz, NeuroDevNet’s inaugural Scientific Director and a Canada Research Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics. “The group has unparalleled expertise in brain imaging, the interaction of genetics and environment, and modeling neurodevelopmental disorders, skills that will help create preventative and therapeutic measures for Canadian children.”

The network will also work closely with clinicians to put their findings into practice, and involve parents to keep them informed on new research developments.

“Within, say, 10 years we expect the greatest benefits would be to children newly diagnosed with autism, cerebral palsy and fetal alcohol syndrome, as well as other brain disorders. Our first benchmark is to develop diagnostic tests that would allow for early diagnosis. We would then translate that into early therapeutic interventions that would prevent some of these disorders from occurring,” says Dr. Goldowitz, who is a senior scientist at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the Child & Family Research Institute.

Hosted by the University of British Columbia, NeuroDevNet will seamlessly combine lab research—studying how the brain develops and how to fix it when it develops poorly—with the clinical situation as babies develop in utero and until three years of age. The earlier the diagnosis, the greater the chances of preventing the disorder.

For example, parents with an autistic child have a 10% chance of having another autistic child, compared to 1% for the general population. Closely monitoring a pregnancy and the newborn, perhaps through genetic testing, could allow doctors to detect autism early on and intervene to reduce the risk of it occurring.

Treating children as early as one year is the best case scenario, although Dr. Goldowitz stresses there is much hope for children who have already developed these disorders. For example, NeuroDevNet researchers are interested in partnering with the GRAND Network of Centres of Excellence to study how digital media and “biofeedback” game technology may be used to effectively “rewire” the brain of an affected child.

“Having a coordinated national network will give Canada the best opportunity yet to tackle these disorders,” adds Dr. Goldowitz. “It will also put Canada on the map internationally as a recognized leader in these fields, which will entice the brightest and best to study and work here.”