How social media can help boost one's career

Speaker: Dr. Isabel Castanho

In this interactive seminar, Dr. Isabel Castanho will share her insights on leveraging social media platforms for networking and professional development in academia. Drawing from her personal experiences, Isabel will review how Twitter brought her valuable opportunities and benefited her career. She will also explore alternatives to X, like LinkedIn and Mastodon. Join us to learn and discuss practical strategies for enhancing your online presence and expanding your academic network.

Dr. Isabel Castanho is an Instructor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Harvard Medical School (United States). She is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART). Dr. Castanho has a background in biology, neuroscience, genomics, and bioinformatics. She completed her PhD at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) in 2019, where she investigated genomic signatures of tau and amyloid pathology progression in rodent models of Alzheimer’s Disease. In her current research, she is investigating protective mechanisms against Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Castanho holds an Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship (AARF) and she was one of the recipients of the Junior Faculty Award at AD/PD 2024.

Link to recording

Transcranial focused ultrasound for targeted drug delivery

Meaghan O’Reilly is a Senior Scientist in Physical Sciences at Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, an Associate Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Ultrasound. Dr. O’Reilly’s research interests include ultrasound therapy applications in the central nervous system, with a focus on delivery, monitoring and control of microbubble-mediated therapies in the brain and spinal cord.

Learning Objectives:

1. To understand the mechanisms by which ultrasound can permeabilize cerebral vasculature

2. To learn about the technological challenges for transcranial ultrasound delivery

3. To review the current clinical status 

Link to recording

Communicating your Research to Non-Academic Audiences - Lay Writing

Dr. Estrid Jakobsen will be leading this workshop on communicating research to non-academic audiences, with a focus on how to write in a lay form - relevant to blog posts and lay abstracts. This workshop will be informative AND interactive, so come ready to engage.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn to distill complex topics into captivating blog ideas and effectively organize your content

2. Discover how to identify and remove scientific jargon, making your writing accessible and engaging for all audiences

3. Master the art of self-editing, employing practical tips to enhance readability and connect with lay readers effectively

Estrid was born in Denmark to an astrophysicist father and an amateur horticulturalist mother who instilled a relentless curiosity and an early interest in science. She decided at age 15 that she wanted to be a neuroscientist, and after graduating highschool in The Netherlands, moved to London, England, where she completed a Bachelor in Cognitive Science and a Master’s in Neuroscience. In 2016, she obtained her PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and then moved to Montreal to work as a postdoctoral fellow at McGill. Over time, she started to realize that the aspects of research that she thrived at and enjoyed the most were communicating, presenting, and thinking about science from a broader perspective. It became clear that she would rather know a little bit about a lot of things than everything about one very specific thing, and that research may not have been the right fit. In 2019, she was hired as the first Communications Officer for the Quebec Bio-Imaging Network (QBIN). Besides running the day to day communications for the network, her job involves encouraging and supporting researchers in improving their science communication skills and organizing public events to increase awareness and impact of bio-imaging research. She also leads the QBIN student and postdoc communications committee and provides editorial support and mentorship to contributors to the QBIN blog. When she manages to find the time, she write about topics she finds particularly fascinating on her personal blog, Headtime Stories, and sometimes takes on freelance science writing jobs for various companies.

Link to recording

Advanced MRI Methods for VCI Research Workshop Series

Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman

Dr. Erin Mazerolle is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. Her research is aimed at understanding neurovascular coupling in the healthy human brain as well as neurological diseases. Dr. Avery Berman is an Assistant Professor at Carleton University and a Scientist at the Royal Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. He develops functional MRI techniques for imaging brain activity and physiology with improved sensitivity and specificity for studying brain health in neurological and psychiatric disorders and for basic neuroscience. His research uses a combination of novel image acquisition strategies and biophysical modelling.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the impact of vascular disease on BOLD fMRI activation results

2. Recognize common artifacts when measuring perfusion using arterial spin labelling

3. Understand quantitative techniques for measuring oxygen metabolism based on the BOLD signal

This series aims to provide a series of introductory educational seminars on advanced MRI methods that are relevant to the study of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).  Each session is scheduled to be 1 hour leaving time for discussion and questions, and is aimed at a broad scientific trainee audience working in the VCI field.

Schedule: biweekly on Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET from January 16 - March 26 2024

January 16: Part I – Introduction to Advanced MRI Methods for Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Speaker: Dr. Bruce Pike
January 30: Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
February 13: Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen
February 27: Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag
March 12: Part V - Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) and the Heart-Brain Axis - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier
March 26: Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman
April 9: Potential Tutorial/Workshop Session

Registration Required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOmvqDoiH9TqRw-YvZjJ0ZHSKI0mJZV9#/registration

Prevalence and characteristics of anti-Indigenous bias among Albertan physicians

Speaker: Meagan Ody, MSc student, Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary

Article: Prevalence and characteristics of antiIndigenous bias among Albertan physicians: a cross-sectional survey and framework analysis

To understand anti-Indigenous bias in the healthcare system, we must examine the root sources. This paper explores the implicit and explicit bias present among practicing physicians in Alberta through a cross-sectional survey. This work is foundational for highlighting the need to address these biases to create a safer healthcare system in Alberta.

Link to recording

Dr. Thalia Field will be facilitating this workshop focused on Clinical Trials Design, which will guide you on how to answer your research question in a clinical trial. Focus will be on how to justify and define the specific population, intervention, comparison and outcomes of the trial.

Learning Objectives:

1. To discuss the challenges and considerations in developing a feasible clinical trial protocol to address a question from clinical practice, focusing on defining populations, study interventions and comparison groups, and relevant outcomes.

2. To discuss these considerations and challenges in study design by using examples of previous and ongoing trials in stroke and cognitive impairment.

Dr. Thalia Field is an Associate Professor in the Division of Neurology at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she holds the Sauder Family/Heart and Stroke Foundation Professorship of Stroke Research. She has an interest in stroke in young and marginalized individuals, with a focus on patient-centered outcomes and engagement of people with lived experience to enhance meaningful outcomes of clinical research at the patient level. She is the principal investigator of the SEARCH study, a longitudinal clinical, neuroimaging and serum biomarker study examining brain health in adults with congenital heart disease, and the SECRET trial and parallel registry, which is examining treatment strategies and prognosis of cerebral venous thrombosis.

Registration required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUtcOyqqD0pHdHi3w7rkRR6xjteNHBblauF

Advanced MRI Methods for VCI Research Workshop Series

Part V - Imaging of Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier

Dr Claudine Gauthier is an Associate Professor at Concordia University and holder of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Chair in cardiovascular imaging at the Montreal Heart Institute. Her research focuses on using quantitative MRI to understand the how vascular and metabolic health is affected by aging, menopause, vascular disease and exercise.

Learning objectives:

1. Understand the physiological basis of CVR

2. Understand how to acquire CVR

3. Understand some of the clinical applications of CVR

This series aims to provide a series of introductory educational seminars on advanced MRI methods that are relevant to the study of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).  Each session is scheduled to be 1 hour leaving time for discussion and questions, and is aimed at a broad scientific trainee audience working in the VCI field.

Schedule: biweekly on Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET from January 16 - March 26 2024

January 16: Part I – Introduction to Advanced MRI Methods for Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Speaker: Dr. Bruce Pike
January 30: Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
February 13: Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen
February 27: Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag
March 12: Part V - Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) and the Heart-Brain Axis - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier
March 26: Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman
April 9: Potential Tutorial/Workshop Session

Registration Required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOmvqDoiH9TqRw-YvZjJ0ZHSKI0mJZV9#/registration

VCI Clinical Trials: Methods and Treatment Targets

Dr. Smith is a Professor of Neurology and the holder of the Kathy Taylor Chair in Vascular Dementia at the University of Calgary. He chairs the Executive Committee of the VAST Health Research Training Program. He uses neuroimaging data from cohort studies and epidemiological studies to identify signs of cerebral small vessel diseases and how they contribute to cognitive decline and dementia.

Learning Objectives:

1. To review best practices for design and conduct of clinical trials for VCI.

2. To learn about old and new targets for preventing and treating VCI.

Link to recording

Advanced MRI Methods for VCI Research Workshop Series

Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag

Dr. Kamil Uludag is an MRI physicist investigating the brain in healthy and diseased subjects with MRI. Dr. Uludag’s laboratory investigates quantitative MRI approaches at high- and ultra high- magnetic field strengths in order to answer fundamental neuroscience questions and to develop biomarkers for clinical applications.

Learning Objectives:

1. To understand physiological basis of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV)

2. To understand the differences between different acquisition types how they are probing brain physiology

This series aims to provide a series of introductory educational seminars on advanced MRI methods that are relevant to the study of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).  Each session is scheduled to be 1 hour leaving time for discussion and questions, and is aimed at a broad scientific trainee audience working in the VCI field.

Schedule: biweekly on Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET from January 16 - March 26 2024

January 16: Part I – Introduction to Advanced MRI Methods for Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Speaker: Dr. Bruce Pike
January 30: Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
February 13: Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen
February 27: Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag
March 12: Part V - Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) and the Heart-Brain Axis - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier
March 26: Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman
April 9: Potential Tutorial/Workshop Session

Registration Required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOmvqDoiH9TqRw-YvZjJ0ZHSKI0mJZV9#/registration

Extracellular vesicles as biomarkers of cognitive decline

Join trainees from Dr. Shawn Whitehead and Dr. AmanPreet Badhwar’s labs to hear about what extracellular vesicles are and how they can be used as diagnostic biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Article: Biomarker potential of brain-secreted extracellular vesicles in blood in Alzheimer's disease

Speakers:

1. Hannah Martin, PhD student

2. Dr. Manoj Reddy Medapati, PDF

3. Zainab Mianoor, MSc student

Link to recording

Panel Session: Careers and Collaborations with Industry

Feb 22:  12:00-1:00 PM ET

In this session, speakers will give a brief introduction about their career path, and the floor will be open for questions about how to transition or collaborate with industry, advice for considering start ups, and the differences between work in academic and industry settings. We’re excited to have four amazing speakers with brief bios outlined below.

Speakers:

1. Adrian Noriega de la Colina, CIHR fellow and Clinical Lead, Perceiv AI

   Dr. Noriega de la Colina is a CIHR-Institute of Aging Research Fellow at the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University (The Neuro), focused in behavioural interventions in early Alzheimer’s disease and Vascular Cognitive Impairment populations. He is also the Clinical Lead at Perceiv AI, a precision medicine company specialized in forecasting disease progression for clinical trial optimization and improved patient care in neurodegenerative disorders.

2. Adrienne Crampton, Associate Director of Business Development, Health Brains, Healthy Lives

   Adrienne Crampton graduated in 2021 from McGill University with a PhD in Rehabilitation Science (focusing on mild traumatic brain injury). Prior to this, she completed her Master’s degree in Sports Management from the University of Ottawa (’17) and her BSc in Kinesiology at McGill University (’15) while competing as a varsity athlete for the latter. Adrienne is a certified Quebec Innovation Consultant (accredited through the Conseil de L’innovation du Quebec) and has worked for both non-profit and for-profit organizations spanning various fields, such as kinesiology, human performance, neuroscience and brain health. Throughout her PhD, she developed a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as for creating conduits between research and industry. More specifically, Adrienne places a strong focus on leveraging her expertise and network to support impact-driven innovation. Adrienne is currently the Associate Director of Business Development at Health Brains, Healthy Lives.

3. Joy Guedia, Medical Science Liaison, Eli Lilly

   Joy Guedia graduated from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in May 2015. She then went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship from 2015 - 2018 at the University of British Columbia. After deciding to pursue an industry career, Joy worked as a Scientist in the Assays development group at Zymeworks until Feb 2022. Joy then transitioned into Medical Affairs where she works as a Medical Science Liaison at Eli Lilly. Joy is happy to share how she transitioned from Academia to R&D in Biotech and then to Medical Affairs and her experience with the application process.

4. Randall Stafford, Senior Research Software Developer, Circle Cardiovascular Imaging

   Randall received his MSc and PhD in Physics at the University of Calgary in 2006 and 2011, respectively. He has been involved in diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging for 20 years. He is currently a Senior Research Software Developer at Circle Cardiovascular Imaging in Calgary.

Please register as a VAST member to receive zoom links + notifications: https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_400UmGwyWKX0Jts

Advanced MRI Methods for VCI Research Workshop Series

Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen

This lecture will introduce the basics on the image acquisition, analysis and interpretation of task-based and resting-state fMRI, including:

1. What is the BOLD fMRI effect?

2. Basic concepts of task-based and resting-state fMRI

3. fMRI data analysis and interpretation

4. Advantages and limitations of fMRI

Dr. Chen is the Canada Research Chair in Neuroimaging of Aging, a Senior Scientist at Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, and a Professor of Medical Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. She completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University. Dr. Chen’s research is focused on the use of resting-state functional MRI (fMRI), arterial-spin labeling, cerebrovascular-reactivity mapping and simultaneous EEG-fMRI to understand the link between brain metabolism and vascular health. 

This series aims to provide a series of introductory educational seminars on advanced MRI methods that are relevant to the study of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).  Each session is scheduled to be 1 hour leaving time for discussion and questions, and is aimed at a broad scientific trainee audience working in the VCI field.

Schedule: biweekly on Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET from January 16 - March 26 2024

January 16: Part I – Introduction to Advanced MRI Methods for Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Speaker: Dr. Bruce Pike
January 30: Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
February 13: Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen
February 27: Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag
March 12: Part V - Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) and the Heart-Brain Axis - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier
March 26: Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman
April 9: Potential Tutorial/Workshop Session

Registration Required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOmvqDoiH9TqRw-YvZjJ0ZHSKI0mJZV9#/registration

Brain-chip technologies: new approaches to understand the role of non-neuronal cells in neurodegenerative disorders

Speaker: Dr. Aurelie de Rus Jacquet, Assistant Professor, Neurosciences axis of the Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval

Feb 8:  12:00-1:00 PM ET

In this seminar we will explore the role of non-neuronal cells, in particular astrocytes, in neurodegeneration and neurovascular dysfunction. To do so, we will discuss the advantages of novel in vitro models, including tissue engineering via microfluidic chips and induced pluripotent stem cells.

Dr. Aurelie de Rus Jacquet is an Assistant Professor in the Neurosciences axis of the Centre de Recherche du CHU de Québec-Université Laval, and she is affiliated with the department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval. She is a neurobiologist and an ethnopharmacologist specializing in the study of Parkinson’s disease. Her research led her to document the traditional uses of neuroprotective plants in remote areas of the world, and to the investigation of their pro-health effects in cellular models of Parkinson’s disease. Using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived models of Parkinson’s disease, Dr. de Rus Jacquet currently investigates the role of non-neuronal cells in disease onset and progression with the goal to guide new drug screening strategies.

Link to recording

Advanced MRI Methods for VCI Research Workshop Series

Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar

Learning objectives:

1. Which sequences can be used to detect and quantify cerebrovascular lesions?

2. How can variability in scanner parameters impact the results?

3. How can presence of cerebrovascular lesions impact morphometric estimations?

Mahsa Dadar, PhD, is currently an assistant professor at the Douglas center, McGill University. She received her Bachelor's and Master’s
Degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran and Concordia University, and her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from
McGill University. She did a postdoctoral fellowship with the International Progressive MS Alliance (IPMSA) team at McGill, followed by a joint
postdoctoral fellowship between the CERVO Brain Research Centre in Quebec and the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Her work is
focused on using MR image processing and machine learning techniques for studying the human brain with the aim of quantifying and
investigating the pathological changes in aging populations.

This series aims to provide a series of introductory educational seminars on advanced MRI methods that are relevant to the study of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).  Each session is scheduled to be 1 hour leaving time for discussion and questions, and is aimed at a broad scientific trainee audience working in the VCI field.

Schedule: biweekly on Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET from January 16 - March 26 2024

January 16: Part I – Introduction to Advanced MRI Methods for Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Speaker: Dr. Bruce Pike
January 30: Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
February 13: Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen
February 27: Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag
March 12: Part V - Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) and the Heart-Brain Axis - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier
March 26: Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman
April 9: Potential Tutorial/Workshop Session

Registration Required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOmvqDoiH9TqRw-YvZjJ0ZHSKI0mJZV9#/registration

The Why’s and How’s of Machine Learning

A brief introduction to managing machine learning projects.

Speaker: Dr. Gurpreet Matharoo, Research Consultant at ACENET Canada, Ph.D. Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics

January 25:  12:00-1:00 PM ET

Gurpreet joined ACENET in 2016 and is based at St. Francis Xavier University (St. FX). A physicist who began his research career studying amorphous materials, supercooled liquids, and the glass transition, Gurpreet was then involved in several original and inter-related lines of research addressing climate change and studying climate of the past. He's since been involved in a variety of interdisciplinary computational research areas, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences and mechanical engineering. Gurpreet's most recent passion is neuroscience research, whereby he is in an active collaboration with researchers studying brain dynamics. This collaboration led to a joint paper on the effects of ongoing brain processes on pain. Gurpreet is fluent in coding in Fortran, C++, C and has a solid understanding of MATLAB. He has also taught undergraduate courses in the physics, engineering, and earth sciences departments at St. FX.

Link to recording

Advanced MRI Methods for VCI Research Workshop Series

This series aims to provide a series of introductory educational seminars on advanced MRI methods that are relevant to the study of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).  Each session is scheduled to be 1 hour leaving time for discussion and questions, and is aimed at a broad scientific trainee audience working in the VCI field.

Schedule: biweekly on Tuesdays 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET from January 16 - March 26 2024

January 16: Part I – Introduction to Advanced MRI Methods for Vascular Cognitive Impairment - Speaker: Dr. Bruce Pike
January 30: Part II – Structural Imaging: White matter Hyperintensities, Microbleeds, and Morphometry - Speaker: Dr. Mahsa Dadar
February 13: Part III – BOLD fMRI: Task and Resting State - Speaker: Dr. Jean Chen
February 27: Part IV – CBF and CBV Techniques and Applications - Speaker: Dr. Kamil Uludag
March 12: Part V - Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR) and the Heart-Brain Axis - Speaker: Dr. Claudine Gauthier
March 26: Part VI - Potential Pitfalls in the Clinical Application of Advanced MRI methods:  BOLD and ASL - Speakers: Dr. Erin Mazerolle and Dr. Avery Berman
April 9: Potential Tutorial/Workshop Session

Registration Required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOmvqDoiH9TqRw-YvZjJ0ZHSKI0mJZV9#/registration

2024 VAST Mentorship Program: Expectations, best practices, and how to get the most out of your mentorship relationship

Mentorship is defined as the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor may help with exploring careers, setting goals, developing contacts, and identifying resources. Our goal is to match trainees where applicable (and wanted) with academic faculty (i.e., a VAST co-investigator or collaborator), a senior peer mentor, and/or a non-academic mentor (i.e., industry/non-profit/community partner, clinician). In order to facilitate matches based on expectations upon time, career goals, and professional interests, please fill out the registration survey. You can more on the mentorship program here.

Effective mentorship relationships have clear expectations and communication. This workshop will cover general guidance for setting up a mentee-mentor relationship and what should be discussed at the first meeting, will review some of the benefits of mentorship for both mentees and mentors, and will provide some time to work in breakout rooms to discuss effective mentorship strategies (for mentors), and questions to ask / how to get the most out of mentorship (for mentees).

Link to recording

Atherosclerosis and Cognitive Decline:  Prediction and Prevention

Speaker: J. David Spence C.M., B.A., M.B.A., M.D., FRCPC, FAHA, FCAHS, FWSO, ISHF 

Professor Spence focused on prevention of stroke throughout his career. He pioneered the measurement of 2-dimensional carotid total plaque area beginning in 1986, and since 1994 has collaborated with Profs. Aaron Fenster and Grace Parraga at the Robarts Research Institute in measurement of 3D plaque volume, vessel wall volume, plaque ulceration and assessment of vulnerable plaque. His research program focuses on measurement of atherosclerosis by ultrasound, for risk stratification, genetic and biological study of atherosclerosis, and for assessing effects of new therapies. He pioneered a new approach to vascular prevention − “treating arteries instead of treating risk factors” − that has markedly reduced risk among high-risk patients with carotid stenosis. Other areas of expertise include the effect of grapefruit on drug metabolism, vitamin therapy for homocysteine, the clinical pharmacology of stroke prevention, physiologically individualized therapy for resistant hypertension, identification of high-risk asymptomatic carotid stenosis and the role of the intestinal microbiome in atherosclerosis. His publications include 4 books and more than 600 publications in peer-reviewed journals. He has presented more than 600 lectures in 42 countries. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the American Heart Association Stroke Council, the International Stroke Society and the International Hypertension Society. In 2015 he received the Research Excellence Award from the Canadian Society for Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. In 2019 he was appointed to the Order of Canada, “for his contributions to the understanding of atherosclerosis and Stroke Prevention”. In 2020 he received the William Feinberg Award from the American Heart Association for excellence in clinical research. 

Link to Recording

Neuroimaging markers of small vessel disease - Insights from STRIVE-2

Speaker: Dr. Aravind Ganesh

The original STandards for ReportIng Vascular changes on nEuroimaging (STRIVE) guidelines represent an effort to develop definitions and imaging standards for markers and consequences of small vessel disease (SVD). STRIVE guidelines are recommended in their application to research studies and in clinical settings to standardise image interpretation, acquisition, and reporting. In 2023, an updated version of the STRIVE guidelines was published (STRIVE-2), highlighting advances since the original 2013 publication which take into account new information on established SVD markers and novel MRI sequences and imaging features that have emerged.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the key updates from the second STRIVE paper on imaging markers of small vessel disease

2. Go over imaging examples of each MRI marker of small vessel disease

Dr. Aravind Ganesh is a Vascular and Cognitive Neurologist. He completed his MD degree at the University of Calgary, followed by a DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia, and then neurology residency and a combined fellowship in stroke and cognitive neurology in Calgary. His clinical research is focused on the imaging, natural history, prevention, and treatment of stroke and cognitive impairment, and he was one of the coauthors of STRIVE-2. 

Link to recording

One-Line Data Visualization in R: Using R as a Programming Language

Date and time: Monday, November 27, 3-4pm eastern time // 1-2pm mountain time

Presenter: Dylan Guan, PhD student at the University of Calgary

Description: R is recognized as a leading tool for working with data in research. Yet, its capabilities as a programming language are often underutilized, especially for data visualization. Approaching data visualization through a programming lens in R not only streamlines the process but also enhances the quality and consistency of the visualization. This journal club workshop focuses on simplifying the visualization process in R. Typically, creating highly personalized, detailed, and consistent visualizations requires extensive coding, often involving repetitive lines across multiple scripts. Through this workshop, you'll learn how to craft functions in R that can generate high-quality and customized data plots in just a single line of code.

Learning Objectives:

1. Become acquainted with ggplot in R: Understand its basics and potential.

2. Learn how to encapsulate complex ggplot code into simple, reusable functions.

3. Learn how to easily integrate your personalized visualization toolkit into other R scripts

Link to recording

Arterial stiffness and cognitive impairment: what is the link?

Bio: Hélène Girouard, PhD, FAHA

Full professor, Department of pharmacology and physiology, Faculty of medicine, Université de Montréal

Co-Director of the Groupe de Recherche Universitaire sur le medicament (GRUM), Director of cerebrovascular pharmacology lab at the Research Center of the Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM)

The research interests of Dr Girouard are the study of the mechanisms underlying cerebrovascular regulation in health and diseases especially in the context of hypertension and neurodenegerative diseases. The main objective of her research is to find therapeutical targets to protect the brain from vascular diseases. To reach this objective, she is using various techniques from molecular biology to brain imaging in mice and humans.

Learning objectives:

1. To understand what is arterial stiffness

2. To understand the consequences of arterial stiffness on blood flow

3. To understand the impact of large arteries stiffness on brain functions

4. To understand the sexual dimorphism in cerebrovascular vulnerability to arterial stiffness

Link to recording

Date and time: Monday, October 30, 3-4pm eastern time 

Presenters: Dr. Laura Fitzgibbon-Collins (postdoctoral associate at Western University), Dr. Tyler Robinson (postdoctoral associate at the University of Toronto)

• 3:00-3:30 - Dr. Laura Fitzgibbon-Collins - Diminished Locomotor Control Is Associated With Reduced Neurovascular Coupling in Older Adults - This article evaluated neurovascular coupling during a working memory task (N-back) and dual-task cost in community-dwelling older adults. Study results identified a link between the impaired ability to regulate cerebral blood flow in response to elevated executive function tasks with a lower capacity to regulate locomotor control. The authors concluded that diminished executive function may underlie the association between neurovascular coupling and walking performance.

  • Link to recording

• 3:30-4:00 - Dr. Tyler Robinson - Functionnectome as a framework to analyse the contribution of brain circuits to fMRI - The paper is demonstrating a novel approach for extrapolating functional activity in the cortical surface onto the underlying white matter and the authors have set up a site where anyone can access and use their model. Tyler will also be talking about the importance of studying white matter integrity in addition to cortical health and function when examining the impact of microvascular decline, and using the Functionnectome model as an example for integrating modalities.

  • Link to recording

Journal club is run on the last Monday of every month from 3-4 pm eastern time. (1-2pm mountain time, 12-1pm pacific time, 4-5pm atlantic time).

Please register as a VAST member to receive zoom links + notifications: https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_400UmGwyWKX0Jts

Speakers: Dr. Bojana Stefanovic (Sunnybrook) and Dr. Steffany Bennett (UOttawa, VAST EDI Champion)

This workshop and discussion will cover what EDI means in the context of day to day research activities and impact of research outcomes. Please fill out the pre-survey to help us tailor the content of this workshop to the group.

Learning objectives:

1. Summarize Canadian research universities state of affairs with respect to gaps in representation

2. Identify specific evidence-based interventions for advancing EDI at individual and at structural level

3. Deploy your learning skills in discussion of real-world scenarios

Dr. Steffany Bennett is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of Ottawa, and Special Advisor to the President on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). She is also the VAST EDI Champion. Dr. Bojana Stefanovic is a Senior Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute and a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, where she is also the Chair of the department’s EDI Committee.

Please register as a VAST member to receive zoom links + notifications: https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_400UmGwyWKX0Jts

Rehabilitation of Cognition in VCI and Stroke: What is the evidence?

Speaker: Dr. Gail Eskes

At the conclusion of this session, the participants will be able to:

1. Describe the concept of VCI and its impact on stroke outcomes

2. Appreciate the different approaches to rehabilitation of cognitive challenges related to VCI

3. Describe the current evidence for rehabilitation and areas for future research

Dr. Gail Eskes is a clinical neuropsychologist and Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, and Psychology & Neuroscience at Dalhousie University. Dr. Eskes runs the Cognitive Health and Recovery Research Laboratory that is focused on the development of novel approaches and technologies for assessment and interventions supporting cognitive health in normal aging, as well as those involved in recovery of cognitive function after stroke.  Dr. Eskes is an active community educator and is also former co-chair of the vascular cognitive impairment best practices working group of the Heart and Stroke Foundation that led to the current guidelines for managing vascular cognitive impairment for stroke clinicians (soon to be updated).  Her research has been supported externally by Heart & Stroke Foundation, CIHR, NSERC, CPSR, ACOA, Innovacorp, CAHBI, and NSHRF. 

Link to recording

Alzheimer Society of Calgary Walk/Run

Note time is 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Calgary time

If you are in Calgary for the Thanksgiving weekend, join our VAST team “The Cognitive Coalition of Vascular Voyagers” for the 2023 Alzheimer Walk/Run in Princes Island Park, or consider donating to a good cause! There are options to do a 1 km walk, 5 km walk, 5 km run, or a 10 km run.

Link to event page.

How to write a paper!

Have trouble getting your thoughts onto a page? Feeling anxious about scientific writing? Don’t know where to start? This workshop will give you several strategies on how to get started and how to write efficiently.

This workshop will be led by Joel Burma, PhD student at the University of Calgary. Joel is a fourth year PhD Student in the Faculty of Kinesiology under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Smirl and Dr. Jeff Dunn. Joel has contributed to 47 peer reviewed publications with 21 as first author! These include original articles, systematic reviews, case reports, and letter to the editors.

Please register as a VAST member to receive zoom links + notifications: https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_400UmGwyWKX0Jts

Link to recording

• 11:30-12:00 ET - VAST Intro / Town Hall

• 12:00 - 12:30 PM ET: Dr. Andrew Beaudin - Cerebrovascular reactivity in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)

  12:30 - 1:00 PM ET: Dr. Irina Alecu - Lipidomic-Based Insights into Disease Mechanisms

• 1:00-1:30 ET - Trainee Committee Nominations

During this session we will give a quick intro and update on VAST as well as the VAST Trainee Committee. This will be followed by our first seminar of the semester, with time for discussion and questions. For those interested in participating in the VAST Trainee Committee, stick around till the end where we will discuss roles and nominate candidates to participate!

A slight update to our speaker for the seminar. Dr. Ismail is unfortunately no longer able to make this time but will present at a later time this year. Instead, we will have 2 speakers presenting shorter presentations: Dr. Andrew Beaudin, Research Associate at the University of Calgary, and Dr. Irina Alecu, Research Associate in the Neural Regeneration Laboratory at the University of Ottawa.

Recording: Dr. Andrew Beaudin - Cerebrovascular reactivity in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)
Recording: Dr. Irina Alecu - Lipidomic-Based Insights into Disease Mechanisms
Recording: VAST Update
Recording: VAST Trainee Committee Info

This workshop on neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers of neurodegenerative disease will be led by Dr. Myuri Ruthirakuhan, Dr. Joel Ramirez, Dr. Julie Ottoy, and Dr. Min Su (Peter) Kang. The workshop will be held virtually from September 19th – November 21st (weekly, Tuesdays 1-3pm ET). Recordings of the sessions will not be shared with registrants - only live attendance is possible. Attendance and participation during 75% of the sessions will earn you a certificate.

Biomarkers are increasingly being used to detect the presence and monitor the progression of neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases that cause dementia. Additionally, biomarkers play a significant role in the design of clinical trials by providing insight into treatment efficacy, target engagement, and enriching criteria for patient selection. Given the multitude of biomarkers that are currently available, researchers require a comprehensive understanding of how biomarkers are acquired and the analytical methodologies that are available to study them. The use of biomarkers in clinical and research settings will improve early diagnosis, intervention, symptom management, and outcomes for persons living with neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases that cause dementia.

The aim of this course is to provide working knowledge about commonly used circulatory (blood-based) and neuroimaging-based (MRI & PET) biomarkers for neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of the range of biomarkers available and how they can be applied in a clinical-research setting to study pathology and the sequence of pathologic events. Students will also learn about emerging techniques that probe novel biomarkers and accelerate drug discovery.

Section I: FLUID (Weeks 1-3): Dr. Myuri Ruthirakuhan
This module will focus on blood-based biomarkers which have established value in predicting and monitoring cognitive and functional decline in neurodegenerative diseases. This module includes three lecture components: 1) Overview of validated and promising blood-based biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases, 2) Understanding the importance and differences in diagnostic, predictive, and monitoring biomarkers, and 3) Practicum: Design of a biomarker study.

Section II: MRI (Weeks 4-6): Dr. Joel Ramirez
Students will be provided with a comprehensive overview of how structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can be used to visualize and measure cerebrovascular lesions and brain atrophy. This will include a crash course on visualization, quantification, and application in clinical research.  If possible, we will also have a hands-on session where students will have the opportunity to interact with MRI from patients with chronic stroke lesions and cerebral small vessel disease imaging markers.

Section III: PET (Weeks 7-8): Dr. Julie Ottoy
This module will focus on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as a molecular brain imaging method - from the research lab to the clinical use. The module is divided into two lectures. In the first lecture, the student will gain a basic understanding of PET physics and will become familiar with applications of PET imaging in both clinical practice and clinical research with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease. The second and last lecture on PET imaging will cover clinical and research applications of amyloid and tau PET, as well as the appearance of PET in patients with concomitant cerebrovascular disease.

Section IV: MULTI-MODAL (Week 9-10) Dr. Min Su Kang
The last section will showcase the latest literature applying multimodal biomarkers to investigate various neurological or neurodegenerative diseases. The first lecture will introduce several studies integrating various multimodal biomarkers to show a new understanding of disease processes and/or mechanisms. This will also be an example of how to read multimodal biomarker papers. The last lecture will focus on methodological/statistical considerations when conducting multimodal biomarker studies. If possible, we will also have a hands-on session with a mock example dataset to analyze multimodal biomarkers to answer a research question.

Registration required: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwtd-qppz4pG9QcgD9QpSOrC0e-3G0g26vg#/registration

Date and time: Monday, August 28 3-4pm eastern time 

Presenter: Devon Stuart, MSc student in Clinical Neuroscience, University of Calgary

Paper: Cerebral Blood Flow Alterations in Acute Sport-Related Concussion. This paper uses Arterial Spin Labeling MRI techniques to investigate changes in CBF in acute concussion.

Recording: https://yuja.ucalgary.ca/v/vastjournalclub-2023-08-28

The VAST Trainee Committee is running an online Journal Club specific to VCI. This is an exciting opportunity to learn more about research within the VCI field and to network with other trainees doing interdisciplinary research throughout Canada (and beyond). All trainees (undergrads, mscs, phds, pdfs, clinical fellows, med students) are invited to present, and both trainees and PIs are invited to participate and provide feedback.

Journal club is run on the last Monday of every month from 3-4 pm eastern time. (1-2pm mountain time, 12-1pm pacific time, 4-5pm atlantic time).

We encourage all trainees to sign up for a session (1-2 trainees per session depending on format). This will be a low stakes learning and networking opportunity.

RISE module with recordings and more info: https://my.riselms.ca/course/view.php?id=252

To mark the success of our VAST summer student scholars, we are again hosting a VAST Summer Student Symposium via Zoom. This year's symposium will be on August 17th at 2-5pm ET (12-3pm MT, 11-2pm PT, 3-6pm AT). We have such a great group of students from across Canada, and it will be amazing to see what everyone has accomplished! 

VAST scholars will be presenting on their summer research- these are short presentations but will be a great opportunity for everyone to get to know what is going on in VAST. These will be headed by a keynote presentation from Dr. Julie Ottoy (Sunnybrook Research Institute, and newly funded VAST scholar!) who will be discussing the use of in vivo neuroimaging biomarkers to study the intersection of Alzheimer’s disease with cerebral small vessel disease. The second half of the symposium will be a workshop on "translating your research out of the lab" during the symposium run by Ty McKinney of the Branch Out Neurological Foundation. Full program and more info to come soon!

Click here to view the program.

Link to recording