MONTREAL, October 30, 2024 – CHU Sainte-Justine's Centre IMAGINE promises a giant step forward for research and therapeutic approaches in neurodevelopment and precision pediatric psychiatry. This infrastructure, unique in Canada, relies on a critical mass of highly specialized researchers to offer the scientific community leading-edge technology in multimodal high-definition brain imaging and powerful data analysis platforms. Equipped to study brain structure, function and connectivity in children, from the neonatal stage to the end of adolescence, it offers unparalleled accuracy for measuring the effects of favourable and disruptive factors for pediatric brain development, such as genetics, chronic stress, prematurity, concussions and substance abuse.

More specifically, the CHU Sainte-Justine IMAGINE Centre aims to:

• Improve not only the quality but also the conditions for brain imaging in children
• Expand the understanding of human brain development, from birth to adulthood
• Take advantage of the latest technologies to measure and analyze brain development in real-life situations, such as during breastfeeding or in interactions with a parent
• Develop new diagnostic and preventive interventions for psychiatric, neurodevelopmental or learning disorders and for factors that could hinder brain development

The official launch of the IMAGINE Centre, which will take place on October 30, was made possible thanks to to major funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, obtained with support from the Université de Montréal, and from the Gouvernement du Québec, as well as a generous and transformative $5M philanthropic donation from the Lise and Giuseppe Racanelli Foundation through the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation.

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“Driven by its ambition to transform the lives of generations, CHU Sainte-Justine is combining its dual strengths in care and research to predict, prevent and take early personalized action with every mother and every child. The IMAGINE Centre is a major milestone in this commitment, drawing on the enormous potential of technology and big data to develop and offer the best possible care, taking into account the unique characteristics of every person with regards to brain health.” – Isabelle Demers, President and CEO, CHU Sainte-Justine

“Powered by precision health, the ambition of the CHU Sainte-Justine Azrieli Research Centre is to transform super-specialized care and services for the mothers and children of Québec. The IMAGINE Centre relies on the extraordinary collaboration of researchers in many complementary areas of expertise to take applied neuroscience to the next level and enter the era of precision pediatric psychiatry and brain health.” – Dr. Jacques L. Michaud, Director, Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine

“In the majority of cases, the first symptoms of mental health disorders appear during childhood or adolescence, and we know that with the right interventions at the right time, it is possible to change a child’s neurodevelpomental trajectory. Since mental health disorders are the main cause of disability in Canada, it is crucial for us to gain a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that hinder or support neurodevelopment, from the earliest possible age. The Centre IMAGINE aims to make high-resolution equipment and research protocols more accessible to the Québec research community in order to speed up discoveries about brain health and transfer these discoveries to the patient’s bedside.” – Prof. Patricia Conrod, Researcher at the Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine, Full Professor in the Université de Montréal Department of Psychiatry and Addictology and Co-Director of the Centre IMAGINE

“The Centre IMAGINE will be a catalyst for collaboration among researchers with widely varied expertise, from neuroimagery and genomics to bioinformatics and epidemiology. The research conducted will serve to optimize clinical practices for a broad array of conditions, such as the neurodevelopmental consequences of prematurity, genetic and congenital anomalies, concussions, traumatic experiences and even prenatal exposure to drugs or toxic substances. It promises to transform predictive, preventive and therapeutic approaches with the goal of ultimately preventing neurodevelopmental or mental health disorders.” – Dr. Gregory Lodygensky, Clinician-Researcher at the CHU Sainte-Justine, Clinical Associate Professor in the Université de Montréal Department of Pediatrics and Co-Director of the Centre IMAGINE

“The Lise and Giuseppe Racanelli Foundation is proud to support mental health research. We hope that our investment will inspire others to do the same, so that together, we may meet the tremendous needs in this area. Collectively, we must help CHU Sainte-Justine build a future where each child receives the healthcare they need to grow and thrive, whatever challenges they may face.” – Véronique Racanelli, President, Lise and Giuseppe Racanelli Foundation

"The commitment of donors is at the heart of the solutions that CHU Sainte-Justine’s teams can provide through research, and the donation from the Lise and Giuseppe Racanelli Foundation to the IMAGINE Centre is proof of this. Thanks to their support, the lives of thousands of children with neurodevelopmental disorders will be fundamentally transformed. The impact of this philanthropic gesture will be felt in a lasting and profound way by families across Quebec.” Delphine Brodeur, President and CEO, CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation  

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