UNews - ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre

Friesen eyes pageant as opportunity

trevor.kenney — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:00:37 +0000

Becky Friesen isn't afraid to try new things – or look for interesting opportunities to stretch her personal and work experiences.

Whether she works with rats, shovels wild animal manure or starts modelling just for the sake of fun, she usually winds up doing something interesting – such as entering the Miss World Canada (MWC) pageant.

The 20-year-old biological sciences student and enthusiastic Lethbridge booster freely acknowledges that parading around in an evening gown, on a runway, is about as far as you could possibly get from her work experiences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience or her recent Co-operative Education placement at a wildlife conservation facility in Langley B.C., but anyone who knows her shouldn't be surprised.

"I have always believed in the value of being multifaceted, instead of only focusing in one or two fields. I find it's a lot more fulfilling for me to always be surprising and challenging myself," says Friesen.

Biological sciences student Becky Friesen is excited about the community service aspect of the MWC pageant.

She was made aware of the pageant opportunity through the family members she stayed with in Langley who knew the reigning Miss World Canada, and who also had worked with the MWC organization in the past. In addition to being a stable business and having a good track record, Friesen says there is a significant charity component to the group, which really appeals to her.

"As contestants and through other MWC activities either in BC or in our home communities, we support Variety, the Children's Charity and its efforts to support the families of children with disabilities, and my goal is to raise its profile here in southern Alberta," she says.

"As well, I have to also gain some corporate and personal sponsorship to help me out with some expenses as a competitor, so I have plans to approach local organizations and businesses for assistance."

Friesen jumped at the chance to do some modelling for charity fashion shows while in Langley and was subsequently asked by the MWC director to apply for the more intense pageant process, which entails public speaking, community service work and demonstrating a talent. She says competing in Miss World Canada has given her a great opportunity to meet some of the people who make Lethbridge so wonderful and in turn, tell others about the community.

"For me, this is a great chance to really stand up and say 'Hey … I'm from Lethbridge! Pay attention to us! We're awesome!' Getting involved in the community, as well as competing in the actual pageant, will give me a lot of practice in my communication skills which will be a valuable asset for the rest of my life."

A Winston Churchill High School graduate and former competitive hip-hop dancer, Friesen says that post-secondary research hadn't entered her mind until she jot a job through the Heritage Youth Research Student (HYRS) program while in grade 11, and wound up working for Dr. Gerlinde Metz at the CCBN for two co-op placements. She never dreamed that taking a job at an endangered wildlife facility would lead her to the equally wild world of fashion and pageants.

If she is successful as a winner or runner-up at MWC she has to fulfill a year-long commitment to the organization which could include a trip to compete at the Miss World competition in Indonesia, as well as a number of public engagements which would work around her school schedule.

Anyone interested in learning more about Becky's pageant process – or supporting her as a sponsor – can connect with her at becky.friesen@missworldcanada.com.

This story first appeared in the January 2013 edition of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Sutherland makes top 50 list

trevor.kenney — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:17:34 +0000

Dr. Robert Sutherland, a neuroscience researcher at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), is among 50 people named by Alberta Venture Magazine as their 50 Most Influential Albertans for 2011.

Sutherland made the list for a breakthrough discovery last year in which he and his team confirmed the re-generation of cerebral cortex cells in adult mammals.

The research focused on a part of the brain called the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped region of the brain responsible for short- and long-term memory storage and retrieval. This is an area that is especially sensitive to illnesses or injuries that can create memory loss, explains Sutherland. It's also a part of the brain that throughout adult life spontaneously creates new cells that are able to easily find their correct position in the brain's circuitry.

The team began by killing off about half of these cells by depriving them of corticosterone, an important hormone the cells need to function, causing the rats to develop memory issues very similar to humans suffering with dementia. Through a combination of a specific protein therapy, an enriched living environment and exercise, the researchers were able to re-grow the lost brain cells and prove that the rats had regained their memory function.

Regenerating brain cells is a problem neuroscientists have been struggling with for many years, with limited success. The challenge stems from the nature of the brain itself. "If you open up a laptop and take a look at the circuit board, every portion you look at has a sophisticated set of connections with other pieces," says Sutherland. "The brain is even more complicated."

For more on this discovery, follow this link.

Other persons honoured by Venture include U of L Honorary Degree recipients Gwyn Morgan and David Schindler. While previous U of L connections to the Alberta Venture list include Sutherland's colleague Dr. Bruce MacNaughton, sociology researcher and trend tracker Dr. Reg Bibby, and U of L Chancellor Emeritus Richard Davidson.

Read the Alberta Venture profile and additional biographies of the other 49 individuals by following this link.

Brain cell re-growth confirmed at CCBN

trevor.kenney — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:02:34 +0000

A research team at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience has confirmed -- through extensive research and peer-reviewed testing -- the world's first successful example of brain cell re-growth in an adult mammal.

CCBN Researcher Robert Sutherland, postdoctoral trainee Jen Lai , and doctoral candidates Simon Spanswick and Fraser Sparks -- along with a large number of undergraduate and graduate student assistants -- spent the past five years on a project funded by the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) to refine a definitive demonstration to confirm how cortical cells can be encouraged to re-grow in the adult brain.

The implications are significant for further research into dementia-related diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease, involving death of cerebral cortex cells, which affects thousands of people each year in Canada.

Other diseases that can have memory deficit at their core include stroke, the side-effects of most cancer therapies, epilepsy, chronic stress and substance abuse. Their funding was recently renewed by the CIHR at more than $680,000 over the next five years to continue the project.

"At the current rate, in 30 years someone will develop dementia every two minutes," Sutherland said.

"The total cost of dementia could reach $153 billion dollars per year by 2038, up from the current cost of $15 billion dollars per year. Without fundamental scientific advances such as ours, it is certain that the burdens will grow dramatically. It is urgent that we find ways of preventing, reversing, and repairing injured brains, and our findings are a significant advance in that direction."

Sutherland stressed that at this time the research focuses on the reliability of a specific method to re-grow damaged cells in the hippocampus -- and while successful in rats, requires significant further research to be useful to humans in the future.

"Re-growing brain cells has been a central challenge in neuroscience and has been explored in many forms since the late 19th century," Sutherland said.

We took the approach that we should look for a simple way to prove that cells can be re-grown and restore lost functions."

The researchers focused on the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped area of the brain which is responsible for short and long-term memory storage and retrieval.

"The hippocampus is very similar in rats and humans, and generally is the part of the brain where cells governing memory die first, or are affected by illness or injury," Sutherland said.

"Another important fact about this part of the hippocampus is that it has the ability to produce a small number of new brain cells, even in adults, so we knew that the process to make cell re-growth happen was there, but was not able to be turned on or increased at will," Sutherland said.

In Sutherland's experiments the loss of cells was caused by eliminating a hormone called corticosterone that is necessary for keeping alive certain brain cells in the hippocampus.

After these cells died Sutherland and his students showed that the rats had memory problems that resemble dementia.

Through a combination of exercise, an enriched living environment, and a specific protein therapy, the rats, when tested on a complicated exercise field, were proven to have fully recovered their memory, and showed regrowth of the damaged hippocampus parts.

Sutherland said people should be heartened by the fact that there is now a lot more definition to the process of testing cell re-growth. "The long-term goals are to develop treatments for cognitive disorders, especially due to anti-cancer therapies, age-related dementias, and related forms of brain injury."

Parts of this research have been presented at several international neuroscience conferences and published in several peer-reviewed journals, referenced below.

Older adults needed for study

trevor.kenney — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:53:01 +0000

The call is out for older adults to help with a study that aims to benefit those with Parkinson's disease.

Lori Sacrey, a PhD student studying at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), is looking at how music affects movement. She is looking for older adults, aged 65-80, to participate in a study that examines the effects of music on movement.

The overall aim of the study is to determine the effect of music on a reaching movement in individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Older adults are needed to serve as a healthy, non-Parkinson's control group.

The total time commitment to participate in this study is 20 minutes.

Those interested in taking part can contact Lori Sacrey, PhD Candidate at lori.sacrey@uleth.ca, or by phone at 403-329-2637.

Rethinking “brain gain”

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:20:57 +0000

This fall, Dr. Bruce McNaughton, one of the world's foremost experts in neurophysiology, proudly joined the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN). It's a "brain gain" made possible through the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Polaris Award – a 10-year, $10 million grant that will ultimately result in $20 million through matching funding.

Lured from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Arizona, McNaughton says it's the world-class expertise of the researchers at the CCBN that attracted him to the U of L.

"Drs. Bryan Kolb, Ian Whishaw, Robert Sutherland and many others at the CCBN are pioneers in the behavioural neuroscience field," says McNaughton. "There is nothing in North America that is like what we're building here."

His addition is a major coup for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

"This is the most significant hire in Canadian universities this year," says Dr. Dennis Fitzpatrick, vice-president (research). "The AHFMR Polaris Award is used to recruit internationally-significant scholars, and Dr. McNaughton is in that class."

Neuropsychology looks at how the brain works by figuring out what it can or cannot do when pieces of the mechanism are broken. McNaughton, a neurophysiologist, studies the healthy brain, gaining an understanding of the basis of knowledge. Alzheimer's patients, stroke victims and those with spinal injury all benefit from technology he has developed for measuring the activity of groups of healthy brain cells and how they interact with one another.

The brain is what we call a dynamical system, and it is constantly active, processing information even while we sleep," says McNaughton.

By unlocking the keys to how the brain generates knowledge, it opens the door to bypassing the broken connections in a damaged brain.

"The brain creates its own reality, and we're finding out how that works."

The CCBN has already established an unequaled reputation of innovative research; McNaughton's addition primes the U of L neuroscience team for unprecedented breakthroughs in discovery.

Unravelling the mystery of stress

trevor.kenney — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:14:11 +0000

Plastering the pages of magazines and self-help books, stress is a hot topic for overworked North Americans – it's also a poorly understood concept, says neuroscientist Dr. Gerlinde Metz.

"It's a very timely subject these days; people think about it a lot. But it's also a misused term," says Metz, a principal researcher at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN).

Stress isn't solely an emotional condition; it's also a physiological state related to the flight-or-fight response that can be both helpful and damaging. The release of stress hormones, like adrenaline, can help an organism flee a harmful situation, but unmanaged long-term stress can increase the likelihood of certain health conditions and diseases.

"It's very complex. Stress affects so many different organs, so many different functions and the brain in so many different ways," she explains.

In the context of brain injury, stress is relevant on two dimensions. "On one hand, stress is a predisposing factor," says Metz. "On the other hand, if you have a stroke, experiencing a loss of movement and cognitive functions is also a source of stress."

Metz is systematically studying the impact of stress on normal motor system functions – including the complex interactions of hormones and their effects on the motor system – as well as how stress impacts the recovery of brain injury patients, particularly victims of 'silent' stroke, in which a stroke isn't immediately detected (these account for 70 per cent of all strokes).

Traditional rehabilitation therapy for stroke patients takes a tremendous physical toll on them. Inte

nse training, amounting to hours of exercise each day, is needed to enable patients to regain movement.

The result is an accumulation of stress – not only from the loss of normal motor control and the adjustment to a major health condition, but from the treatment itself. By understanding the cellular processes at the heart of stress, and how these relate to different types of brain damage, Metz hopes to find ways to "optimize existing stroke treatments and maybe find ones that haven't been discovered yet."

For instance, non-traditional treatments like massage therapy, known for its ability to lower stress levels, may prove to be a helpful compliment to rehabilitation.

Metz's work on stress is primarily funded by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) which recently renewed her status as an AHFMR Senior Scholar and provided funding of more than $1 million over the next seven years. Metz also receives funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

In addition to her work on stress and stroke, Metz is actively collaborating on a project for the Preterm Birth and Healthy Outcomes Team, a network of researchers and clinicians from across Alberta.

Working with peers from the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, Metz is studying an animal model of preterm birth in order to understand the physiological factors of the phenomenon, particularly hormones.

"Pregnancy is regulated by a complex concert of hormones," says Metz. "Sometimes, something goes wrong at some point. Once we know what's not working, we can try to repair it."

Metz explains that preterm birth is a complex occurrence, the causes of which have eluded scientists. It's a particularly relevant health concern in Alberta, where more than 9 per cent of babies are born prematurely – the highest rate in Canada.

The Preterm Birth and Healthy Outcomes Team includes 20 principal investigators, including Metz, who recently earned a team grant from AHFMR, an award of $5 million over five years, to explore the issue from three main perspectives: the health of mothers, the health of infants and the long-term health outlook for people born prematurely.

"The focus of the team grant is to bring many different people to the table and have them focus on a single topic," says Metz.

Health-care professionals working with mothers and preterm babies comprise an important part of the network, allowing the collected data to immediately benefit those affected.

"It's a great learning process for all of us and really motivating because you know where your results are going."

UNews - ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Canadian Centre

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