When we think of concussion, it’s easy to imagine that traumatic brain injury occurs most often in ice rinks and on playing fields, or that it’s an issue that disproportionately affects professional athletes or rambunctious children. In fact, 25 per cent of traumatic brain injuries occur in women, and intimate partner violence may be one of the leading causes of concussion for women in Canada.
Newsroom
For media enquiries or more information about research at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, please contact Emily Wight, Communications Manager.
- Email: emily.wight@brain.ubc.ca
- Phone: 604-417-0165
To keep in touch with the Centre and up-to-date on our research, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to Brain Matters, our monthly e-newsletter.
Researchers have established that the foggy feeling and forgetfulness that many new mothers report during and after pregnancy—known as “mom brain”—is real. But new findings from Dr. Liisa Galea and her team at the University of British Columbia suggest that the effect of motherhood on the brain appears to last much longer after childbirth than previously believed.
A team led by Neuroethics Canada's Dr. Judy Illes (pictured) and Dr. Patrick McDonald will explore ethical issues confronting families and clinicians when considering new treatment options for drug-resistant epilepsy in children.
Pictured: Dr. Brianne Kent. Image credit: Paul Joseph/UBC.
As anyone who has ever lain awake in the dark hours after going to bed will attest, sleep is complicated and a lack of it can be disruptive to every aspect of one’s life. Deep sleep is important for a number of brain functions, and essential in clearing the brain of toxic proteins such as beta-amyloid, which can accumulate in the brain over the course of the day. Beta-amyloid proteins contribute to the plaques that form in the brain in disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Pictured: Renée Fleming (left), American opera singer and soprano, visited the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health on September 19; she enjoyed meeting several members of our research community, including Dr. Jon Stoessl (centre) and Dr. Vesna Sossi (right). For information on Ms. Fleming's interest in brain research, visit her website.
Image source: UBC School of Music.
Detailed scans of University of British Columbia hockey players who had suffered concussions found that the protective fatty tissue surrounding brain cell fibers was loosened two weeks after the injury—even though the athletes felt fine and were deemed ready to return to the ice.
Can technology help solve the global burden of mental illness? A five-year project, jointly funded by Canadian Institutes for Health Research and National Natural Science Foundation of China, has brought international researchers, led in Canada by Dr. Raymond Lam, together to study the effectiveness of digital technologies for depression in community mental health centres across Shanghai, China.
Dr. Matilde Balbi (PI: Dr. Tim Murphy), Dr. Katharina Held (PI: Dr. Yu Tian Wang), Samrat Thouta (PI: Dr. Terry Snutch) recieved Research Trainee Awards from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR).
The 2017/18 academic year saw major changes to the Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN), from the appointment of Dr. Liisa Galea as Graduate Program Director in July 2017, to the hiring of Jennifer Campbell (pictured above) as Graduate Program Coordinator in March 2018.
