Page 20 - EUREKA! Summer 2018

ike Hildebrand fell asleep on the job once, in the If Hildebrand and his students succeed in identifying
parking lot of The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic Campus. what’s causing pain signals to keep firing, or what’s missing
MIt’s understandable, considering the demands of his that usually blocks those signals, that could prompt
research. pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs that could
Hildebrand, a Neuroscience professor at Carleton, is trying relieve people of debilitating daily pain. Hildebrand thinks
to figure out, with the help of some graduate students, that’s worth pursuing, and he’s not alone. He and Tsai, in
what’s happening in the spinal cord to perpetuate chronic conjunction with two other labs, recently received a five-
pain, a scourge that impacts as many as one in five people, year $573,750 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health
mostly older adults. For nearly 10 years, Hildebrand used Research to continue their work.
spinal cord tissue from rats to record electrical signals
travelling between neurons and study the molecules, We have all felt pain. If you fall while skating on the frozen
present or absent, that control the delivery of pain signals to Rideau Canal and bang your knee, sensory impulses travel
the brain. But thanks to a unique collaboration with Dr. Eve along neural pathways in your leg to your spinal cord, where
Tsai, a neurosurgeon and researcher at The Ottawa Hospital, they are first organized, and then new impulses relay that
Hildebrand’s team is now capturing recordings from spinal information to the brain. The brain then analyzes the input
cord neuron synapses using human tissue, something they and reacts, so that you “feel” pain and know that you’re
believe has never been done before. injured. Pain signalling, which happens within a second or
“It’s so exciting, and I never really pictured it,” Hildebrand two, helps keep you alive by telling you that something’s
says about being the first in the world to attempt this wrong. But for some people, pain continues when it shouldn’t
experimental technique. “I had more modest ambitions, I’d — long after a wound has healed, for instance, or a limb
say, for my research. I thought, ‘I’ll have my niche and I’ll amputated — because of increased electrical impulses
have a few students and we’ll answer some questions.’ It’s travelling to the brain or even impulses without sensory input.
cool to see what new doors continue to open.” Hildebrand believes we can understand pain better by
The tissue that forms the basis of this groundbreaking studying the spine and chemically targeting the damaged
research comes from human organ donors. Most research areas where signals are first organized and relayed.
on human tissue, other than biopsies, involves potentially Although spinal pain signalling research has been under
diseased tissue or takes place significantly after death. way for a couple decades, nobody is doing the same
For neurons, that means the signalling pathways would be type of work — nor to the same extent — as he and his
irreparably degraded. “I wasn’t aware of research where you collaborators. And while their project may offer tremendous
take viable healthy tissue,” says Hildebrand. “That’s what hope for chronic pain sufferers, the truth is, Hildebrand Neuroscience professor Mike Hildebrand and PhD student Annemarie Dedek in their lab at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute,
makes this so unique.” might never have studied spinal cord neurons were it not for where she cuts human spinal cord tissue from donors into very thin sections and then uses an electrophysiology machine to record the
electrical currents travelling through synaptic receptors.
The fact that somebody has to die for them to conduct a stroke of bad luck.
their work is not lost on Hildebrand and his students. They Both Hildebrand and his wife Sara applied to teacher’s
treat their work seriously: someone is on call 24 hours a day college after finishing undergraduate degrees in their
to respond to the hospital and receive the tissue in the event hometown Vancouver years ago. She got in; he did not. course and a fourth-year seminar. He also supervises five
that an organ donor manifests. But as with any hospital Disappointed and somewhat adrift, he took a year off to graduate students, including Dedek and Kandegedara, who Mike Hildebrand’s work identifying
procedure, there can be delays, which is why Hildebrand gain perspective and figure out what to do. are directly involved in the chronic pain research.
was dozing in his car in the parking lot, waiting for word After some soul searching, he entered graduate school Tsai, Hildebrand’s main collaborator, also has two jobs the mechanisms of pain processing
from the surgical team. A father of three young children, at the University of British Columbia and fell in love with rolled into one. She is a neurosurgeon and researcher — an in the spinal cord is particularly
Hildebrand confesses that was during the early days of this scientific research — in particular, molecular and cellular uncommon hybrid which involves performing brain and
project; now it’s his students who are on duty after dark. neuroscience. His PhD supervisor Terry Snutch owned a small spinal cord surgeries at the hospital and also leading a lab significant because it helps to bridge
On deck are master’s student Chaya Kandegedara and pharmaceutical company, so after graduating Hildebrand at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She and her lab
PhD student Annemarie Dedek (see “Lab notes” on page went to work for him, studying how chemical blockers affect colleagues are among the world’s leaders in efforts to repair the gap between research and
23). They receive the tissue in the operating room and then the pain signalling of spinal neurons in rodents. and regenerate neurons in people with spinal cord injuries.
divide it up for Kandegedara’s biochemical experiments He then got a job as a research fellow at Sick Kids clinical trials. Most pharmaceutical
and Dedek’s electrical recordings. Her specialized recording Hospital in Toronto, refining his research focus and Tsai’s windowless office in the hospital’s neuroscience
setup measures currents from individual synapses between mastering use of the electrophysiology recording department is crowded floor-to-ceiling with stacks of paper, clinical trials occur after a long
neurons and plots the results onto a squiggly graph. equipment. Then, just shy of five years ago, he landed medical degrees, certificates of expertise, trophies and other
“When I had it running for the first time at Carleton, I was a position at Carleton that allowed him to continue his awards, and precariously piled books such as Neurosurgery: period of research, usually on animal
calling colleagues over and saying, ‘Look at the screen!’ research and also teach and mentor students. It was a Tricks of the Trade. It’s a stark contrast to Hildebrand’s newly tissue. But what works in animals
And it’s just a little blip,” says Hildebrand, describing his dream job. Getting students excited about new material, occupied office in Carleton’s Health Sciences Building,
initial electrical recordings on rodent tissue with the verbal showing them why it’s relevant, and seeing them meet their which was practically empty back in January, save for a jelly doesn’t always work for humans.
velocity and fervour of a child at a water park. “I’m always own challenges and excelling, is beyond rewarding, he says. belly dispenser (his favourite treat) and a few family photos.
amazed. I never get bored of it.” These days, Hildebrand teaches a third-year neuroscience Tsai calls herself a translator — she understands the

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