Translational neuroscience for physical and mental health

Our lab studies the social neuroscience of physical and mental health across the human lifespan.  We are particularly interested in how the brain--as a biological entity--and the social environment interact to produce behaviours that prevent or reduce the impact of various kinds of physical and mental health outcomes, including chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cancer), infectious illness (COVID-19, SARS), and psychiatric conditions (e.g., PTSD, addictions, depression).

A second major focus of our laboratory is the investigation of new ways of assessing brain health and conceptually important cognitive capacities. Of particular interest are the development and evaluation of brain stimulation paradigms to quantify cortical resilience (i.e., the ability of the brain to recovery quickly from suppressive perturbations). These and other related protocols may facilitate early detection of dementia and other brain pathologies affecting the frontal lobes, and provide new ways of measuring brain health indices in clinical assessments, clinical research trials and population health studies.

Equipment and Facilities:

The Prevention Neuroscience Laboratory is equipped with a MagVenture MagPro x100 rTMS system (cTBS capable, with EMG), a neuronavigation system, several mobile brain imaging systems (multichannel fNIRS), and Tobii Pro Spectrum eye tracking equipment.