Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Dementia is the main cause of disability in older adults, with 7.7 million new cases of dementia diagnosed each year. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. AD causes a severe decline in memory, language, and behavior, that can impair a person's ability to perform everyday tasks. Since the number of available treatments for AD is limited, the focus of current research has turned to early identification and intervention strategies. One important area of study concerns the onset and course of AD progression over time. Studies have shown that the course of AD follows a predictable pattern: current theories suggest that changes in brain function can be detected before changes in behavior. A new and exciting approach to identifying these early changes in brain function is by using a brain imaging technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at how the flow of signals in the resting brain changes over time. Recent studies have shown that more a variable brain signal is related to better brain functioning and a higher memory performance. The variability in this signal has also shown to decrease as an individual gets older. Therefore, the goal of my master's thesis is to use this new brain imaging approach to look at how variability in brain signal relates to the development of AD over time, and whether these changes could be used as early markers of AD onset. The ultimate aim of this project is to help improve our ability to detect AD before its symptoms start, in order to be able to administer treatment as soon as possible and reduce the effects of this devastating disease on Canadians.