Behind the Research: Western examines the brain’s secrets   

President Alan Shepard in conversation with professors Lisa Saksida and Ravi Menon on the latest advances in neuroscience and cognition    Researchers at Western are at the forefront of unraveling the mysteries of the human brain, making significant contributions to understanding diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. President Alan Shepard recently sat down with Lisa Saksida and Ravi Menon, professors at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and co-scientific directors of BrainsCAN, to discuss the latest advances in neuroscience, cognition and neurocognitive disease research. Alan Shepard: What is BrainsCAN and how is it transforming brain research? Lisa Saksida: BrainsCAN is a research initiative at Western with a focus on cognitive neuroscience. Cognition is how we learn, remember, think and pay attention. Research at BrainsCAN is all'about taking that fundamental basic research about the brain - focused on cognition - and using it to have an impact on society. This could be in the form of treatments for diseases of the brain or even educating medical students. Parkinson's and Alzheimer's are two of the major diseases we work on.