Characterizing the many modes of cell to cell communication through a multitude of neurotransmitters and receptors is crucial to further understanding the complexities of the central nervous system, both in health and disease.

Since the beginning of his tenure at the Douglas Institute Research Centre in 1983, Rémi Quirion, PhD, has cultivated a diverse laboratory and trained over 70 students and fellows, from all over the world, dedicated to the study of brain peptides (neuropeptide Y, CGRP), growth factors (nerve growth factor and insulin-like growth factor-1), and the role of programmed cell death in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

In addition to being scientific director of the Douglas Institute Research Centre from 1996 to 2011, Rémi Quirion was the Inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction, one of the thirteen Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Work from Rémi Quirion's lab has helped to characterize the roles of cholinergic synapses in Alzheimer Disease, neuropeptide Y in depression and learning, and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in pain and opioid tolerance.

In 2009, Rémi Quirion has joined Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) as Executive Director of the International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease.

Rémi Quirion left the Douglas institute in 2011 to become Quebec's first Chief Scientist.