TORONTO, July 2, 2003 -- The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) today awarded $1.4 million over six years to a group of scholars at York University’s Centre for Vision Research to train the next generation of researchers in the interdisciplinary study of human vision health.
Led by Prof. Hugh Wilson at York University, the group represents a core of Canadian leaders in the study of vision internationally and includes researchers at Toronto Western Hospital, Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, and the University of Western Ontario.
"Advanced study of human vision becomes more crucial as the population ages and the need increases for seniors to remain productive members of society," said Wilson. He points out that many people rank blindness as the disability they fear most because vision, of all the senses, is the richest source of information.
Approximately 40 per cent of the cortex of the brain is involved in vision processing, with some 3 million optic nerve fibres feeding information to the brain compared to only 30,000 auditory nerve fibres. "That’s 100 times more information coming in from the eyes than the ears," said Wilson.
Prof. Wilson says the huge range of cortical visual processes explains why so many neurological diseases affect vision, from head injuries to stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and even migraine headaches. Wilson’s group of researchers are engaged in an interdisciplinary effort to understand vision and vision health, spanning the fields of molecular biology, chemistry, psychology, neuroscience, and computer science, and using the techniques of neuromodelling and MRI to observe the physical processes that take place in the vision areas of the brain. They are the largest interdisciplinary vision research group in North America.
The group will offer a training program that attracts top Canadian and international students of vision to ensure the continued progress of both fundamental and applied research in Canada. Students will be exposed to both course work and summer workshops, combining contemporary research on normal visual system function with studies of major visual deficits.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Hugh Wilson | Susan Bigelow |
| Centre for Vision Research | Media Relations |
| York University | York University |
| 416-736-5659 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
| hrwilson@yorku.ca | sbigelow@yorku.ca |
YU/069/03
