Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Dementia currently affects more than 700,000 people in Canada, impacting both their life expectancy and quality of life. Effects are widespread, with ramifications extending beyond their own life and into the lives of their family, friends, and the larger society they live in. The incidence of dementia is projected to rise over the coming decades, but no system is currently in place to quickly and cheaply screen large populations for risk of dementia. The earliest symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is traditionally considered to be the progressive loss of memory and cognitive ability that individuals suffer as a result of the disease. Unfortunately, cognitive decline occurs well into disease progression and is a symptom of significant neurodegeneration. However, an emerging body of evidence strongly indicates that olfactory declines precede the onset of cognitive impairment and dementia by 5-15 years and, significantly, that with early detection, interventions may be more effective in preventing or treating cognitive decline and AD dementia. The olfactory system has rich cortical representation in the brain. To capture this, we will use Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to examine brain activation patterns in olfactory and memory tests in individuals with and without dementia. We expect that those with a high risk of dementia can be differentiated from normal controls, providing additional information on how to detect and monitor early-stage neurodegenerative disease using inexpensive tests that can scale up to screen populations. Early detection and monitoring could maximize targeted interventions, leading to more preventative measures, personalized care, and better patient outcomes. This study will lay the groundwork for olfactory interventions and aims to take a proactive approach to understanding and addressing cognitive decline via targeting the improvement of health outcomes in the areas of prevention and diagnosis.