Welcome to the Brain Behavior Lab Website
News & Events
Dr. Boyd to be featured on Breakfast TV Nov 25, 2009PhD candidate Jill Zwicker featured in UBC reports Nov 2009 and CBC radio
Postdoctoral fellow Sean Meehan awarded a Michael Smith for Health Research Health Research Trainee Award
Former trainee Catherine Siengsukon wins Argersinger Prize for outstanding dissertations
The Brain Behavior Laboratory is dedicated to furthering the knowledge of brain behavior, specifically towards expanding our understanding of what therapies positively alter patterns of brain activity after injury or with neurological disease processes. The lab is comprised of dedicated students and staff who in collaboration with senior scientists and volunteers from the community work to answer these important questions in relation to optimizing rehabilitation techniques.
Research in the Brain Behavior Laboratory examines the relationships between brain function and behavior after central nervous system damage from stroke. The work conducted in this laboratory essentially seeks to integrate two fields of study: the neurobiology of motor learning and the neural science of recovery from stroke. The research focus is to understand how best to stimulate neural plasticity to facilitate motor learning and recovery of function after stroke or other forms of acquired brain injury.
Ultimately, the main goal of work conducted in the Brain Behavior Laboratory is to understand how learning is operationalized by the damaged brain to reconceptualize rehabilitation interventions. Damage to the adult brain results in a variety of structural and physiological changes. Despite this, the research team has demonstrated that capability for motor learning is disrupted but not abolished by brain damage. This lab has demonstrated the absolute necessity of considering lesion location as a major factor in predicting deficits and outcomes after stroke. As a result, it has become clear that lesion location must be an area of emphasis when evaluating the potential for recovery and determining a course of rehabilitation after stroke.
The Brain Behavior Laboratory has 1500 sqf of research space divided into two quiet cognitive testing rooms, a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Lab, research trainee office space and a behavioral testing unit. The lab is equiped with:
* motor and cognitive testing equipment
* paired pulse and rapid rate TMS units and a BrainSight co-registration system
* a Delsys 8 channel EMG to index motor responses
* behavioral testing apparati for indexing function after stroke, Parkinson's disease
and in children with developmental disabilities
* computer systems for processing behavioral, functional magnetic resonance
imaging and TMS data
* 2 channel EMG system linked to the TMS to allow simultaneous recording of TMS
and MEPs
*32 channel EEG system and 1 channel electrical stimulator for SEPs