Venture Lab Projects

Research Consortia and Projects

Our research focuses on risk factors for youth substance misuse and mental health problems. We aim to understand why early onset substance use is so highly concurrent with other mental health concerns and future addiction. We also apply our research findings to develop new prevention approaches targeting identified risk profiles. We study environmental factors, genetic factors, and use computerized assessments and neuroimaging tools to measure functional brain development during the adolescent period. Our youth advisors assure that our research addresses issues and uses methods that relevant and appropriate for youth.
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Canadian Cannabis and Psychosis Research Team (CCPRT)

CCPRT brings together a multidisciplinary group of research laboratories from across Canada studying the relationship between cannabis, brain health and psychosis risk.

Canadian Pediatric Imaging Platform

A structured partnership to accelerate our understanding of the brain and the factors that disrupt brain development involving three Canadian pediatric imaging research centres.

PreVenture

An evidence-based prevention program that uses personality targeted interventions to promote mental health and delay substance use amongst teens. The program is designed to help students learn useful coping skills, set long term goals and channel their personality towards achieving them. The program can be delivered in a face-to-face setting or online.

CUSP

The Canadian Underage Substance Use Prevention (CUSP) Trial is a multi-site, pan-Canadian study that aims to evaluate the long-term effects of PreVenture on preventing risk behaviours that can lead to substance misuse amongst senior high school students. The study is funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).‍‍

Well-Venture

Adapting Personality-Targeted Interventions for Reducing the Risk of Substance Use and Mental Health Problems in Youth in Child Welfare System. This study is supported by a CIHR Fellowship to Dr. Hanie Edalati and the following Research Chair to Dr. Patricia Conrod: Fondation Julien/Marcelle et Jean Coutu en Pediatrie Sociale en Communaute de l’Universite de Montreal.

ProVenture

ProVenture is a brain imaging project designed to study changes in neurodevelopment brought about by cannabis consumption. This study is funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).

NeuroVenture

This project aims to identify behavioral and cognitive factors predisposing to substance abuse among adolescents as well as to evaluate the impact of this abuse on neurodevelopment. Another part of the project aims to assess the impact of a targeted short intervention on substance use.

EHT

The purpose of the pan-Canadian and CIHR-funded Emerging Health Study (EHT) research project is to provide additional evidence and develop guidelines for the treatment of opioid-related disorders in youth (ages 15-25) and to promote prevention and early intervention with newer users and youth at-risk of opioid use.

ADORe

The targeting adolescent neurocognitive processes in depression to promote intervention response (ADORe) is a multi-site international study that aims to elucidate, in a translational perspective, neural and cognitive functions implicated in adolescent onset of depression and in treatment response. The study is funded by the Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research.

A-Brain

In the project ‘Addiction in the brain: Ethically Sound Implementation in Governance (A-BRAIN)’, an international research consortium aims to identify the apparatus of views surrounding the BDMA, in order to develop sound governance to apply the BDMA into practice.

NutriVenture

NutriVenture is a research study that aims to address cognitive and behavioral risk factors for problematic eating behaviors and compulsive behaviors in adolescents.

PsyVenture

PsyVenture is a research study that aims to adapt the personality-targeted intervention named PreVenture, to prevent cannabis use in youth at-risk for experiencing psychosis from cannabis.

DigiVenture

DigiVenture aims to shed more light on the association of the time that adolescents spend front of digital screens (i.e., screen time), mental health-outcomes including depression and anxiety, cognitive outcomes such as ADHD, and substance use including alcohol use and cannabis use.

Social Pediatrics

The Research Chair in Community Social Pediatrics aims to promote academic excellence in research on the social determinants of health specific to the development of children and adolescents living in vulnerable conditions.

CoVenture

The Co-Venture project is a trial investigating the effects of an evidence-based alcohol and drug prevention program, PreVenture, on the development of substance use disorders and the cognitive development in adolescence. This project was made possible through the funding of the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).

UniVenture

UniVenture is a multi-site partnership that aims to adapt, test and share PreVenture, an effective, sustainable wellness prevention program, to tackle alcohol and drug misuse among a post-secondary school crowd (ages 18-25). This project intends to implement the adaptation at Dalhousie University, St. Francis Xavier University, University of York, Université de Montréal and University of British Columbia.

Computational Axis

Computational approaches based on new developments in quantitative modelling pervade many areas of science and have the potential to play a critical role in the progression of neuroscience and psychiatry. Current psychiatric classification systems are organized around latent classes as underlying causal processes behind the covariation structures of the symptoms/risk-behaviors.

Online PreVenture feasibility Study (OPfS)

The OPfS will evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term impact of the PreVenture program when delivered to at risk youth across Canada through a web-based video conferencing and digital platform. The study is supported by a grant from Foundation CHU Sainte-Justine.

RQSHA

Le FRQS Réseau Québécois sur le Suicide, les troubles de l'humeur et les troubles Associés is a multidisciplinary and interprofessional research team focusing on the characterization of the suicide, and interventions for its prevention and treatment.

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