USask neuroscientist Valerie Verge named to Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

For treating nerve-related diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), enhancing nerve cells’ capacity to repair in any way could make a tremendous impact on a patient’s quality of life. 

"All of the solutions I have found for MS stem from nervous system repair research," said Verge, a Distinguished Professor and researcher with the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). "We want to help repair, help protect and maybe even prevent further damage." 

From a PhD student at McGill University in Montreal to post-doctoral work in Stockholm, Sweden to a professorship at USask, Verge has found opportunities to pursue her cutting-edge nerve research with the best and brightest.  

And now, Verge has been recognized as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS), one of the most prestigious honours for health and medical researchers in Canada. Being named a CAHS fellow recognizes excellence and leadership in advancing both health sciences and diversity, equity and inclusivity in Canada. 

"It's such an honour. It's so humbling," Verge said. "We don’t do the research for recognition but rather, we do it because we can’t not do it – our curiosity and the desire to help people is ultimately what drives us to find the answers.” 

Verge's research focuses on the way nerve cells repair themselves and how several approaches can enhance that ability. 

She recalled an early experiment conducted with one of her mentors and PhD supervisor Dr. Peter Richardson (MD), a neurosurgeon at the Montreal General Hospital who discovered that the ability of the nervous system to repair itself could be greatly enhanced by one nerve injury followed another nerve injury. 

The team discovered that the first injury "primes” the nerve cell to mount a repair response, with the second injury enhancing the response up to three times, showing that the right stimulus can increase a nerve cell’s ability to repair.  

That realization led Verge to explore how to spur a nerve cell’s heightened ability to repair and eventually led to her more recent work exploring the idea of therapeutic Acute Intermittent Hypoxia (tAIH), a treatment method that stimulates nerve cells in a non-invasive manner through breathing.  

Verge discovered that when cycling oxygen levels in the air being breathed, people can create a beneficial level of stress in their cells, similar to what happens when you exercise. That stress then stimulates nerve cells into an enhanced regenerative state.  

The tAIH therapy has shown promise in early testing and could have a lasting impact on peripheral nerve repair and MS treatment.  

"I've spent a lot of my career looking for ways that we might therapeutically ramp up that repair response without having to give a second injury," Verge said. "In a mouse model of MS and rat peripheral nerve injury, tAIH treatment stimulated repair like nothing I've ever seen." 

Whenever Verge speaks of her research, she is referring to the work conducted by her, her collaborators, and all the many colleagues and students that have come through her lab.  

"Every time I say 'me,' it is a team. The brilliant trainees and research personnel that I've mentored over the years are the ones in the trenches, and they worked out a lot of this with me. I won’t ever forget that," she said.  

Verge also said she has been gifted with the privilege of using her voice, sharing her perspectives as a scientist, woman and mother in the field of neuroscience, and as a Past President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience to advocate for investment in neuroscience research and shape policy over many decades.  

Being named a fellow of the CAHS means Verge can continue sharing that voice with a strong network that impacts Canada and the world.  

"Being inducted as a fellow means continuing to be involved, that you've got many years of insight to potentially offer," Verge said. "It's the value of great mentorship, the value of great support at the university, and the value of face-to-face interactions with peers and students."