Modeling Maternal Adversity in Rodents to Study Intergenerational Effects
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Millie Rincón-Cortés, PhD, leads the Developmental and Maternal Neurobiology Lab at UT Dallas, a developmental behavioral neuroscience lab that studies how exposure to adversity compromises behavioral and brain function throughout the lifespan. Her research reveals how maternal adversity in rats (modelled through resource scarcity) disrupts the brain's reward circuitry, causing reduced maternal motivation and diminished responsiveness to pups. These behavioral changes correspond with disruptions in the brain's reward circuitry (also known as the mesolimbic dopamine system). Her team has further demonstrated that early life adversity affects reward-related behaviors during adolescence.
How Blood Can Now Tell Us About Brain Health: Integration and Implementation of Blood Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease
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Dr. Melissa Petersen's is assistant professor of Family Medicine and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Her research focuses on the utility of blood-based biomarkers in the detection of neurodegenerative disease states including Alzheimer's disease among different racial and ethnic groups. Her collaboration and work with the Health and Aging Brain Study- Health Disparities (HABS-HD) cohort allows access to a biologically well characterized sample of Non-Hispanic Whites, Black, and Hispanics ranging from age 30 and above with available MRI, PET (Amyloid, Tau), blood-based biomarkers and cognitive data.
The Next Frontier in Brain Health: From Preventing Decline to Building Resilience
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Much of the science of brain aging has focused on understanding cognitive decline and reducing risk for dementia. But brain health is more than the absence of disease. Vonetta Dotson, PhD, neuropsychologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, explores a broader, more proactive approach to brain health that considers the interacting cognitive, emotional, physical, social and environmental factors that shape how we think, feel and function across the lifespan. This talk draws on research examining positive and negative modifiers of brain health and shares opportunities to move from identifying risk toward building resilience.
Immersive Intelligence: Using Virtual Reality, Digital Twins, and AI to Understand and Enhance Human Performance
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Jeff Price, MFA, directs the Virtual, Augmented, and Simulation Technology (VAST) Lab at UT Dallas, where he researches the impact of immersive technologies on the study, training and understanding of human behavior. This talk explores how virtual reality, augmented reality, digital twins, spatial computing and artificial intelligence can be combined to create controlled yet highly realistic environments for studying cognition, behavior, decision-making and human performance.
Understanding Risk, Improving Health: Leveraging Technology to Understand and Reduce Health-Risk Behaviors Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood
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Adolescence and young adulthood are critical developmental periods during which health-risk behaviors can emerge and become established, with important implications for long-term health and well-being. UT Arlington professors Melissa A. Lewis, PhD, and Dana M. Litt, PhD, discuss advances in digital technology that are transforming how researchers identify the cognitive, social and contextual mechanisms underlying these behaviors and how interventions are developed and delivered to reduce risk.