In early March, 400 scientists, clinicians and academics from all over the world will meet in Toronto for a three-day conference focused on Brain Plasticity and Neurorehabilitation. The conference, presented by Baycrest Health Sciences’ Rotman Research Institute (RRI), will highlight provocative findings in two related fields – brain plasticity and neurorehabilitation – which are yielding new ways to help people affected by stroke, traumatic brain injury, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and depression.

Brain plasticity is a relatively recent concept which suggests that an injured brain and nervous system can heal itself under the right circumstances. Neurorehabilitation refers to therapies aimed at improving quality of life after cognitive or other damage to the brain using specific types of training and brain stimulation combined with behavioural therapy. The goal is to restore lost or damaged functions such as speech or comprehension, or to help people compensate by enhancing other skills.

“We believe this is the next exciting frontier in medicine,” says conference co-chair Dr. Deirdre Dawson, a senior scientist at Baycrest’s RRI and an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto. “Our progress in treating many neurological and psychiatric disorders is rooted in understanding the basic mechanisms of neuroplasticity.”

Although the idea that the brain can change is not new, evidence showing these changes in the adult brain is more recent. Prior to this, doctors and therapists believed that therapy for people with brain damage – for example, someone who lost the ability to speak because of a stroke or who suffered memory loss from a traumatic brain injury – was restricted to helping them compensate for their difficulties and learn to accept their new limitations.

But there is now clear and sometimes quite dramatic evidence that the adult brain can alter existing neural pathways and even create new ones. This holds enormous implications for the diagnosis, treatment and management of many health problems.

“This year’s conference shows our commitment to translational research by bringing eminent scientists from all over the world to discuss not only the foundational science of cognition and
memory, but its enormous potential for rehabilitation,” says Dr. Randy McIntosh, vice-president, Research at Baycrest and director of the RRI.

Three leaders in the fields of brain plasticity and neurorehablitation will address the conference. They are:

• Dr. Bryan Kolb, University of Lethbridge, Canada [Harnessing the Power of Neuroplasticity for Intervention];
• Dr. Leah Krubitzer, University of California at Davis, U.S., [Cortical Plasticity Within and Across Lifetimes: A Comparative Approach]; and
• Dr. Barbara Wilson, Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, United Kingdom [Principles of Cognitive Neurorehabilitation.]

Sunday Pre-Conference Workshops – Open to Media
Media who want to learn about current neurorehabilitation tools and techniques that can help aging adults maintain and strengthen their memory, attention, planning and goal management, may attend the pre-conference workshops on Sunday, March 3, to be held at Baycrest Health Sciences, 3560 Bathurst St. Clinical neuropsychologists and scientists will showcase The Memory and Aging Program, Smarter Aging, and Learning the Ropes for Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment. All the Sunday workshops will start at 9 a.m. and run concurrently. See the full list of speakers and conference itinerary:

For the first time in the history of this annual neuroscience conference, a Public Lecture will be held
as part of the program.

Learn how bilingualism can help delay dementia
will be presented by world-renowned cognitive scientists Drs. Ellen Bialystok and Fergus Craik, on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:00 pm at The Westin Harbour Castle.

For Media
Media planning to attend any part of the conference downtown, including pre-conference workshops on the Sunday (at Baycrest), are asked to RSVP at 416-785-2432. Press kits available at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, 1 Harbour St., Toronto, for the Monday to Wednesday part of the conference. Interviews with conference presenters can be arranged with on-site media officer.

About Baycrest
Baycrest Health Sciences is internationally renowned for it`s care of aging adults and for excellence in aging brain research, clinical interventions and promising cognitive rehabilitation strategies. Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute is world-renowned for its cognitive science in understanding the aging and injured brain, how it changes, adapts and recovers over time.

For more information on the conference, please contact:
Kelly Connelly
Senior Media Officer
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2432
kconnelly@baycrest.org