Research Studies

Sign up by: 30 April 2025
This is a 5-year study which aims to evaluate and characterize frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) patients and asymptomatic individuals belonging to family with a strong history of an FTLD syndrome and their caregivers. This study seeks to learn more about how FTLD syndromes progress over time and to develop new tools that can aid with diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of FTLD.

Key Details
Study Sponsor: Funding: NIH International Study on FTD
Location: In-person (Required at Toronto Western Hospital)
How Often: Yearly
Compensation: Yes (Participants will be compensated for their travel, time and parking.)

Contact: Daniela Mora-Fisher, Clinical Research Coordinator
[email protected]
(416) 603-5914

Sign up by: 01 September 2025

Caregiving for people with dementia has become an issue of international importance. The focus of research in caregiver burden and distress in neurodegenerative disease has been on the patients' cognitive deficits and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Social cognition comprises many psychological processes that allows individuals to partake in social situations by enabling them to perceive and recognize the thoughts, emotions, and behaviours of others. There is growing awareness of social cognitive deficits occurring in the different neurodegenerative diseases. People with dementia may display increasing difficulties in understanding social cues or recognizing emotions and caregivers are generally unaware of these deficits. There is growing evidence that changes in emotion recognition can impact caregiver mood and be associated with caregiver burden.

This is a pilot project to assess the feasibility of educating dementia caregivers on emotion recognition deficits and decreased empathy in patients with dementia and the impact of education on caregiver burden, mood and quality of life. Seventy-five dementia caregiver-patient pairs will be recruited for this cross-sectional study. Caregivers' ability to detect emotion recognition deficits and empathy impairment in the patient will be assessed. Caregivers will be given a questionnaire to evaluate their knowledge of emotion recognition deficits and empathy impairment in the patient. Caregiver burden, mood, and quality of life will be assessed. The caregivers will then be given educational material on emotion recognition deficits and empathy impairment in dementia and then be asked to evaluate the information they have received. After 1 month, caregivers will be contacted to assess whether the information they received changed their understanding of emotion recognition deficits and empathy impairment and if it had an impact on caregiver burden, mood and quality of life.

Key Details
Study Sponsor: Toronto Western and General Hospitals
Location: In-person (Optional at Toronto Western Hospital) + Phone (Optional)
How Often: Yearly
Compensation: No

Contact: Daniela Mora-Fisher, Clinical Research Coordinator
[email protected]
416-603-5914

Sign up by: 01 September 2025

This study follows people with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD) for up to 2 years and compares their brain changes with healthy volunteers of the same age. Researchers hope to learn more about how patients with PSP and CBD progress over time and which measures are best for tracking change and predicting progression. Various measures including brain imaging, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, eye tracking, blood markers and neuropsychological testing will be measured.

Key Details
Study Sponsor: Mayo Clinic NIH
Location: In-person (Required at Toronto Western Hospital)
How Often: A few times a year + Yearly
Compensation: Yes (Participants will be compensated for their time and expenses)

Contact: Daniela Mora-Fisher, Clinical Research Coordinator
[email protected]
416-603-5914