Convocation Pics
Congratulations again to recent MSc grads Hawazin Khan (MScRRPT), Kerry McInnes (MScRRPT) and Chris Friesen (MSc Neuroscience). A great shot below of Hawazin and Lab Director Shaun Boe post-convocation.
LBRF
Top of the Killam’s
PhD student Sarah Kraeutner was recognized as the top Killam Predoctoral award winner at last nights Killam Awards Reception, receiving the Dr. George Cooper Killam Prize. Sarah is the inaugural recipient of this award, which is named after Dr. George Cooper, a longstanding member and head of the Killam Board of Trustees. Killam awards are the most prestigious scholarship awarded by the University, recognizing the very best in graduate and postgraduate education. Dalhousie is one of only four universities in Canada to award Killam Scholarships and Prizes. Funding from the Killam scholarship provides support for Sarah as she pursues her doctoral work, which focuses on better understanding how imagined movements can be used to aid in the acquisition of motor skills and how they might be used in rehabilitation to help with recovery of movement after brain injury, such as stroke. Congratulations Sarah on a well-deserved award!
Another great stroke congress!
Members of the lab travelled to Quebec City this past week to attend Canadian Stroke Congress. Highlights of the congress included in-depth discussion of recent clinical trials in stroke rehabilitation (the AVERT trial among others), debating the effectiveness of physical rehabilitation (of course its effective!), and emerging treatments to optimize rehabilitation including pharmacological interventions and brain stimulation.
Lab members Sarah Kraeutner and Hawazin Khan presented their work on screening for imagery ability and exercise effects on brain excitability. Overall a great congress, and wonderful to see such a strong contingent from Atlantic Canada! Next years Congress is in Calgary – looking forward to it already!
News feature!
The lab’s work on expert imagery and brain activity was recently featured on CTV News ‘Live at 5 Housecalls’ segment. This work, led by PhD student Sarah Kraeutner, looks at how brain activity underlying motor imagery changes based on how familiar a person is with the task being imagined. For her study, Sarah recruits varsity athletes from Dalhousie’s mens and women’s basketball and volleyball teams. A big thanks to all the participants in the study. You can check out the CTV interview here.
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CPA Award!
Congratulations to lab member Sarah Kraeutner, whose MSc work was recently recognized by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA). Established in 1999, the Programme of Certificates of Academic Excellence recognizes outstanding achievements made by students at all levels of study in each Canadian department of psychology.
Nominated by the Psychology & Neuroscience Department at Dalhousie, Sarah is this years award winner at the Master’s level. Congratulations Sarah!
An afternoon with the Prez…
Members of the lab recently hosted Dalhousie’s President, Richard Florizone, for drinks at the new Stillwell Beer garden. Great conversation ensued, including discussion related to the student experience (good and bad), the future of the University, and of course Tony’s shirt (which featured black and white lemurs if you look closely!). A huge thanks to Richard for being an open and accessible President!
Member of the lab were joined Dal President Richard Florizone (who takes great group selfies!) for an afternoon drink a the beergarden and some conversation related to the student experience.
Expert imagery study now underway
Recruitment is underway for PhD student Sarah Kraeutner’s study on how brain activity differs between experts and novices when performing motor imagery. For this project, Sarah will scan the brains of varsity and novice athletes while they imagine common and sport-specific skills. Results of the study will tell us more about the role of familiarity and prior experience on imagery ability and brain activity.
2016 MSc #3
And one more just for fun…congratulations to lab member Chris Friesen, who joins Kerry McInnes and Hawazin Khan as our most recent MSc graduates. Chris’s MSc work involved developing and testing a neurofeedback system involving ‘imagined imitation’, which includes both the imagination and observation of movement. Chris will be continuing this line of work as he pursues his PhD in the lab starting this September. Congrats Chris and the rest of our MSc graduates!
2016 MSc #2
Congratulations to lab member Hawazin Khan who has successfully defended her MSc thesis. Hawazin’s work used non-invasive brain stimulation to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on brain excitability – overall Hawazin’s study shows that low levels of aerobic exercise can still drive brain excitability. Hawazin’s results have implications for the use of aerobic exercise to prime the brain before rehabilitation in patients with brain injury. Congratulations again Hawazin on a great job!
Our newest MSc grad!
Kerry McInnes is the newest MSc ‘product’ of the lab, having successfully defended her MSc thesis July 15. Kerry’s thesis work examined the incidence of cognitive impairment in in individuals experiencing a single mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Kerry’s primary finding is that a greater proportion of people with a single mTBI experience cognitive impairments than previously established in the literature. Congratulations Kerry on this fantastic work!
Official site of the Laboratory for Brain Recovery and Function 