Faculty of Arts & Science
Neuroscience / CCBN

Faculty members are happy to involve students in their research projects, using state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. Our faculty members often collaborate with other departments, community members and employers on research projects—giving you the opportunity to get hands-on experience.

The University of Lethbridge houses the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN). It is unlike any research facility in the country - the 60,000 square foot building is designed to house the laboratories of sixteen principal investigators and on industrial partner working specifically in the area of Behavioural Neuroscience. These laboratories are supported by a state-of the- art animal facility. The CCBN conducts basic and applied research on brain and behaviour. Most of the work is systemslevel neuroscience with rodents, but also includes human neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroimaging. The Centre studies normal brain processes and processes affecting recovery from neurological disorders, and injury.

Faculty at the University of Lethbridge find themselves in a unique position to:

• access excellent undergraduate students who can provide research assistance;
• collaborate with faculty outside of the Department of Neuroscience on joint projects and research areas;
• access exceptionally well-equipped facilities both on and off campus;
• access research and teaching funding opportunities;
• assist and participate in ground-breaking research projects;
• collaborate with other faculty members in the department on research projects and opportunities;
• draw from the diverse range of experience within the department;
• work with community members and local industry on various projects and initiatives.

Current Research and Areas of Interest:

• The role of the hippocampus in memory and related cognitive processes
• Function of adult neurogenesis
• Brain repair and functional recovery from brain injury.  Parkinson’s Disease
• Play behaviour and the development of sociality and associated brain mechanisms
• The evolution of complex patterns of play behaviour
• The rules that underlie the organization of sequences of adaptive behaviour
• Interactions amongst learning and memory systems
• Etiology of Alzheimer's disease
• Circadian rhythms and memory
• Functional recovery after brain and spinal cord damage
• Effects of stress on movement and recovery
• Neurodegenerative disorders affecting the motor system
• Perinatal origins of health and disease
• Coding of sensory stimuli in the cortex
• Cortical plasticity and repair after brain injury
• Computational neuroscience
• Evolution of the brain and behaviour
• Neural basis of courtship and social behaviour of wild vertebrates
• Neural and endocrine effects of exposure to environmental contaminants
• Role of prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in memory Decision making
• The prefrontal cortex Neural encoding within frontal cortex and associated structures
• Imaging Science and Manganese Enhanced MRI
• Neuro-degenerative disease imaging
• Computational Neuroscience