Psychology professor awarded CIHR grant to study resilience in brain aging and dementia

Assistant professor Brianne Kent and her team at the Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (INN) have been awarded funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to study brain resilience in aging and dementia. 

As the only researcher in British Columbia to receive a CIHR Mechanism in Brain Aging and Dementia Operating Grant, Kent stands among 13 researchers from across Canada who are receiving $8.7M from the Canadian government to study age-related cognitive impairment. 

Her research titled, "Multiscale dynamical system modelling to understand resilience in brain aging and dementia", will draw upon the data from the BC Generations Project to help Canada better understand the causes of dementia and the ways to reduce the risks of developing cognitive impairment and dementia as we age. 

In addition to being the associate director of INN, Kent is also a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Translational Neuroscience and Dementia and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. She also leads the Translational Neuroscience Lab where she conducts research on how sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances contribute to the memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease. 

In partnership with the Azrieli Foundation and its Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, the CIHR grant was launched to advance the understanding about risk reduction and protective factors involved in promoting cognitive health and mitigating the changes that occur in the onset and progression of cognitive impairment and dementia in aging, while considering the intersection of different factors, including the social determinants of health and other structural and systemic barriers.