Notice Board

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) presents a session with University of Lethbridge neuroscientist Dr. Bryan Kolb as he discusses severe stress and its lasting influence on brain development.

Date:                    Thursday, Apr. 5, 2018
Time:                    Doors open 11:30 a.m., Presentation 12 p.m., buffet lunch 12:30 p.m., Q&A 1 – 1:30 pm
Location:              Royal Canadian Legion (north door) 324 Mayor Magrath Dr. S. Lethbridge
Cost:                    $14 buffet lunch with desert & coffee/tea/juice or $2 coffee/tea/juice. RSVP not required

One of Bryan Kolb’s most memorable talks was a public lecture in Lac La Biche, AB, attended by many First Nations elders. Kolb spoke about how stress and abuse during childhood can cause certain genes in the brain to be turned on or off, and how these changes can be passed from one generation to another — altering the behaviour of the offspring. Through this explanation, the elders began to see the problem of residential schools in an entirely new light.

Dr. Kolb will explain how severe stress, for example in residential schools, can cross generations and cause all kinds of problems later. Thanks to institutions like the University of Lethbridge’s Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN), it is now recognized that childhood stress and abuse has many consequences. But the wide-ranging societal implications of the ongoing research, being conducted by Kolb at the U of L, suggests the most important work — actually reversing the neurological effects of early adversity — is still to come.

Speaker:              Dr. Bryan Kolb

Dr. Bryan Kolb has played a founding role in the study of neuroscience. As a neuroscientist at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience in Lethbridge, Kolb’s primary interests are in brain development, brain plasticity, and brain changes over time, including after injury.

A recipient of the Order of Canada, Kolb has published seven books and more than 400 articles and chapters. In the process, Kolb and a pioneering faculty and research team, has helped turn the U of L, a relatively young institution that just celebrated its 50th anniversary, into a hotbed for neuroscience research.

Moderator:         Mairin Gettman

For more information on the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs, visit the SACPA website.