KITCHENER-WATERLOO, Ontario, Canada ― ​The 2019 conference of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN-ACN) took place on May 22 - 25 in Toronto. CAN-ACN is a community of scientists, researchers and students brought together with the common purpose of representing the interests of Canadian neuroscientists at national and international levels. The conference was led by Dr. Paul Frankland of SickKids Hospital, Dr. Ruth Slack of University of Ottawa, and Dr. Julie Lefebvre of University of Toronto.

STEM Biomedical members Alexander Ille, Raoul Bodea, and Mathias Moise attended the 2019 CAN-ACN conference, along with collaborators from D'Youville College with a poster presentation. The presentation detailed a project centered around structural insights into the alpha-synuclein protein and its mutational variants. Alpha-synuclein is recognized as the key pathogenic protein in both familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease. Structural characterization involved in disease is important for the development of novel therapeutics.