When the term ends and the sun shines, a select few will continue to put their brains to the test – literally.
Providing an opportunity to learn from some of the university’s top minds, Western will hold its first summer school in neuroscience, May 30-June 6.
Geared at third- and fourth-year science students seeking careers in neuroscience, the week-long intensive course will provide an overview of neuroplasticity as the mechanism underlying physiological and cognitive performance in health and disease.
“Neuroplasticity describes the process by which the brain’s structure and function change over time, and underlies embryonic development, learning, memory, addiction and disease,” says summer school director Arthur Brown of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Robarts Research Institute.
The proposed schedule will provide time for informal interaction, hands-on laboratory experience and other social and recreational events.
Specific topics will include neural development, seasonal and circadian rhythms, learning and memory, reward and addiction, and neurotrauma and neurological disease. Applications for the $400-program, which includes food, accommodation and transportation, can be found here. The deadline is May 10.
While the brain represents only two per cent of our body weight, it represents biology’s final frontier, controlling virtually every organ of the body, our emotional state and intellectual faculties. In fractions of a second, it responds to our changing environment and is itself constantly in a state of change and adaptation.
Western and Robarts have long been leaders in research and education related to neuroscience and brain and mind, identified as areas of priority and strength in the university’s strategic research plan.
