Congratulations to Yves De Koninck, founder of the QPRN, who wins the Wilder Penfield Award for Biomedical Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yves De Koninck holds a Canada Research Chair in Chronic Pain and Related Brain Disorders<\/a> and is Director of Research at the Centre int\u00e9gr\u00e9 universitaire de sant\u00e9 et de services sociaux de la Capitale-Nationale. He is also the Scientific Director of the CERVO research center<\/a> and of the Sentinel North<\/a> initiative. He helped found the neurophysical research training program, the Neurophotonics Centre<\/a>, which led to the creation of the graduate program in biophotonics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yves De Koninck’s work has revealed the mechanism responsible for erroneous pain signals, namely an abnormal circulation of chloride ions, which usually slow down the action of the relay neuron. The problem occurs when a protein acting as a pump fails. The flow of chloride ions is reversed and their quantity increases in the cells, causing a chemical imbalance. This causes the relay neurons to become excited, rather than inhibited, and pain sets in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n