7:00pm to 9:00pm |
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Brain School: How Brains Grow and Age
(VTC)
A public event part of Brain Awareness Week
The Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute is offering Brain School, a four-part seminar series that offers an owner's manual on the brain. Dr. Ramey will discuss how the brain of a baby morphs into a mature adult brain. She will consider the dramatic changes in the structure, size, and complexity of the brain that occur throughout in utero and during postnatal development and how genes and life's experiences affect the brain's maturation and function. Dr. Friedlander will discuss the processes that occur during normal brain aging, including the metabolism and activity in the brain, changes in the nature and number of nerve cells, and the genesis of new nerve cells. He will also compare healthy brain aging with Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Valdez will discuss how exercise and diet help slow the mental and physical erosion that occurs with aging. A primary focus of his presentation will be the effect of such lifestyles on synapses. Examples from humans and animals will be used to demonstrate how various brain and peripheral areas, including skeletal muscles, change through the different stages of life.
Speakers: Sharon Ramey, PhD, Professor and Distinguished Research Scholar; Michael Friedlander, PhD, Executive Director; and Gregorio Valdez, Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute More information...
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