Canada’s first mobile research lab is hitting the road this spring. Launched by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as a part of its Research Renaissance Project, the mobile lab will collect data to improve prevention and treatment services in many communities in rural Ontario. The fully equipped lab on wheels will conduct interviews and surveys and obtain blood samples to create a powerful database on mental illness and addictions, and the results will be shared with local health and social service agencies.
The project will bring world-class research by epidemiologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and social scientists to rural and First Nations communities that are geographically far from traditional research centres. Embarking on their first tour to some of these less advantaged communities this spring, the researchers will study the connection between genes and problems such as mood disorders, substance abuse and violence. This unique project will facilitate a partnership between rural communities and a renowned team of CAMH health researchers and will advance our collective knowledge of mental illness to have a real and positive impact on small and underserviced Ontario communities.
For more information, see http://su.pr/1iBzL6
