Dr. Ivar Mendez

Professor, Department of Surgery
(Division of Neurosurgery)
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Chairman, Brain Repair Centre
Director of Research, Department of Surgery
Director, Neural Transplantation Laboratory

Current Research

As a clinician/scientist, my research has been focused on functional neurosurgery, neural transplantation, stem cells and robotic neurosurgery. My laboratory work has been supported by peer-reviewed funding from a number of sources including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Centre of Excellence (Stem Cell Network), Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, Parkinson’s Foundation of Canada, and the Parkinson’s disease Foundation of USA.

Research at the Neurotransplantation Laboratory has been centred on repairing neuronal circuitry in Parkinson’s disease and Spinal Cord injury. For the past few years we have used cell restorative strategies such as neural transplantation in multiple targets in the Parkinsonian brain to restore the synaptic circuitry. This basic research has been translated into clinical studies of neural transplantation in Parkinsonian patients. Currently, we are applying the same strategies in repairing the spinal cord in animal models of spinal cord injury. We have been studying the combination of neurotrophic factors with cell restoration using stem cells as a way to improve graft survival and function. Our work has involved numerous close collaborations with laboratories across Canada, the U.S. and Europe in looking at the potential of stem cells to repair the brain in Parkinson’s disease, stroke and spinal cord injury.

My clinical research is focused on the use of deep brain stimulation to treat movement disorders and we are particularly interested in investigating the potential of deep brain stimulation to control distonic posture in children with cerebral palsy.

Recently we started a neurosurgical robotics program in which we are exploring the application of robotic technology to perform neurosurgical procedures and to provide of long distance robotic assistance telementoring. In connection with this work, a telementoring program has been established between the Division of Neurosurgery in Halifax and the Neurosurgical unit in Saint John, New Brunswick, 400 kilometers away. We are developing the protocols to provide real time neurosurgical expertise at a distance. This technology has potential to provide real time expertise anywhere in the globe. We are also exploring the use of robotics for neurosurgical training.

Of special note

Dr. Mendez is Chair and founding member of the Brain Repair Centre (BRC), a collaboration of Dalhousie University, Capital Health and the National Research Council. The BRC is a multidisciplinary collaboration linking world-class researchers and physicians specializing in groundbreaking treatments and technologies in the field of brain repair. The BRC represents the largest and most comprehensive health research collaboration in Atlantic Canada. Through this partnership, Dr. Mendez has played a critical role in expanding state-of-the-art research facilities in Halifax, including a 4.0 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system, and new neurobiology and stem cell laboratories.

Inspirations

After finishing my first year as a neurosurgery resident, the University of Western Ontario gave me permission to explore the area of neural transplantation and the technical support to undertake a two-year Ph.D. Using an animal model, I was able to demonstrate for the first time that a transplanted cell could actually make the appropriate contact through a synaptic connection with another cell in the host brain.

This breakthrough demonstrated that a cell from an animal could not only survive transplantation into a host brain but actually knew where to go and how to communicate with the appropriate cell out of millions of choices. It also confirmed for me that one day it would actually be possible to repair the circuitry of the brain. This objective has since become my quest and the goal towards which all my innovations are aimed.

I am realizing my vision. In my Dalhousie laboratory I pursue the basic research aspects; at QEII Health Sciences Centre (formerly the Victoria General Hospital and now part of the recently amalgamated regional institution known as Capital Health) I conduct the clinical research. In the past eight years, the research conducted in the Neurotransplant Laboratory has helped bring a number of scientists and clinicians to Halifax to participate in a cohesive, translational research program to do innovative work in the rapidly emerging field of neurological repair through transplantation.

This team has been working at both at the basic science and clinical level to answer some of the most important questions that were being asked around the world by neural transplantation teams: where to transplant the cells; how to improve their survival; how to transplant the cells without damaging the brain, and most recently, which other types and sources of cells may offer even greater possibilities for neural transplantation and with fewer disadvantages.

The combination of my basic science and medical background has been critical to my success. I work at the conceptual level with the team in the lab on the ideas. Then I develop the techniques with animal models and use the results, where appropriate, in clinical applications.

Impacts

Our work here is breaking ground in the field of brain repair; Halifax has Canada’s only neural-transplantation program. The research we are doing may lead to restorative therapies for a wide variety of neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease.

This is a multidisciplinary program in which basic and clinical scientists are developing the methodology for transplanting new cells into the brain as a restorative therapy for brain disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Neural transplantation has tremendous potential for the future. I envision that one day, not too far from now, we will be able to repair the brain and the spinal cord. This will have a huge impact for Parkinson’s sufferers and for those suffering from spinal-cord injury.

Another surgical procedure called deep brain stimulation is also used to reduce unwanted tremors in patients with Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. To help patients cope, I implant tiny computers into a patient’s chest. The computer is connected to special electrodes that go into the brain. This procedure can help control symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

The impact of robotics in surgery, more specifically neurosurgery, will be huge in the future. Our ability to provide neurosurgical expertise - usually concentrated in large academic centers - to small communities will be significantly enhanced by robotic and telecommunications technology. I envision in the future that the eyes and hands of neurosurgeons in larger hospital will be capable of being transported instantaneously by highly sophisticated robotic and telecommunication systems to smaller community hospitals in which patients require life-saving neurosurgery. Robotic telementoring will allow real time expertise to be available to smaller neurosurgical units. This development will benefit patient care and may avoid the necessity of transporting patients to larger centres. Robotic telementoring also offers the potential of being an excellent tool for training future neurosurgeons.

For further information, please contact Dr. Ivar Mendez using the Email contact form or by phone at 902 494-8896