Dancing into Brain Health (S2 Ep7): Our senses in motion
Our senses of smell and taste shape some of life’s most meaningful and pleasurable experiences — from the perfume of a spring day to the familiar aroma of our grandmother’s apple pie. Yet we rarely stop to consider how deeply these everyday sensory experiences are connected to the brain and its health.
In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Rona Graham, a neuroscientist whose research explores olfactory function as an early biomarker for cognitive impairment. Together, we unpack how this often-overlooked sensory process is intimately tied not only to the richness of our daily lives, but also to cognition, memory, and overall brain health.
Listen here
“Twelve weeks of olfactory therapy - you can’t believe the change. Not just in the olfactory region, but also in the somatosensory and the integrative regions.
We see 68% increase in brain activity. That blew my mind.”
Listen to Season 2, Episode 7 now: Our Senses in Motion on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube.
Learn more about Dr. Rona Graham:
https://sites.google.com/view/ronakgraham/home
Dr. Rona Graham is the Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Research Centre on Aging, Universite de Sherbrooke. Her research interests include olfactory system dysfunction in Neurodegenerative diseases, olfactory therapy as a measure to delay symptoms in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer disease, the development of a public Smell and Taste Clinic of offer olfactory testing and training, leading olfactory therapy clinical trials, the development of clinical tests to detect premanifest dementia and other therapeutic approaches including caspases and cell death pathways.
The overall goal of Professor Graham’s health science research program is to delineate mechanisms in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases that will allow approaches to therapy that will halt progression or lead to a cure for such disorders. In particular her focus is on Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Alzheimer (AD) and Huntington disease (HD) and the olfactory system dysfunction. Her long-term goal is developing a multi-modal, longitudinal approach, to relate the imaging measures to the age-dependent behavioral and neuropathological changes in MCI, AD and HD. This will enable delineation of underlying mechanisms, determination of early and robust clinical endpoints for trials, and identification of drug targets.
Read more about the connection of smell, taste and the brain:
Volumetric MRI Demonstrates Atrophy of the Olfactory Cortex in AD
Olfactory Dysfunction Associated with Cognitive Decline in an Elderly Population
Specific olfactory deficit patterns observed in seniors and associated with cognitive decline
Amelioration of Cognitive and Olfactory System Deficits in APOE4 Transgenic Mice with DHA Treatment
Diet enriched in omega-3 fatty acids alleviates olfactory system deficits in APOE4 transgenic mice
This episode of Dancing into Brain Health was edited and produced Magda Kaczmarska and Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The music for this show is the title cut from the album, Critical Path by Joe Venegoni and Carl Weingarten.
ABOUT DANCING INTO BRAIN HEALTH PODCAST
Join host Magda Kaczmarska, dancer, researcher, Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health and executive director of arts and health nonprofit, DanceStream Projects, in uncovering the interconnections of dance, brain health and community. Each episode Magda brings together leading researchers, artists, advocates and thought leaders to illuminate the magical interconnections of dance and brain health and explore their influence on all aspects of our lives.
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