Hosted by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), the webinar is open to FENS and SfN members.

Sedentary behaviour is on the rise, resulting in an increased prevalence of preventable life-limiting diseases, including those affecting the brain. This is despite evidence showing that physical activity is one of the most important modifiable lifestyle factors that support good brain health throughout life and improves the quality of life in old age.

The webinar will discuss different mechanisms by which exercise positively influences brain health and function across the lifespan, from modulation of inflammation to regulation of adult neurogenesis.

Register for your place

Speakers:

Swathi Gujral is a clinical gero-neuropsychologist with speciality training in behavioural medicine. As Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, her clinical work and research are jointly committed to assessing and treating cognitive dysfunction and depression in older adults. Her clinical translational research program targets brain health in those with depression and comorbid cognitive impairment in late life, incorporating markers of physical and brain health, along with clinical symptomatology, suicide risk, and neurocognitive function. The goal of Swathi Gujral’s primary research program is to optimise brain health in older adults with psychiatric and cognitive comorbidities using lifestyle interventions. She is currently funded by an NIMH career development award examining the effects of 6-months of aerobic exercise training on systemic brain-based abnormalities and cognitive dysfunction in older adults who have recently remitted from depression.

Áine Kelly is a Professor in Physiology at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, where she is Associate Dean of Undergraduate Science Education. She obtained her BA (Mod) in Physiology and PhD from Trinity College Dublin and carried out postdoctoral research both at Trinity and Université Paris Sud. Her laboratory investigates the importance of physical activity in maintaining brain health throughout the lifespan.

David Jiménez-Pavón is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the MOVE-IT research group at the University of Cádiz, Spain. Dr David Jiménez-Pavón has a remarkable trajectory as a researcher in the area of physical activity and exercise in relation to health, and especially, in relation to obesity, ageing, and dementia. His line of research is focused on “Improving health through physical activity, exercise and nutrition, with special attention to the problem of Obesity and Aging, especially in brain health and functionality”. His research has been focused during the last years on the epidemiology of health promotion and prevention of cardio-metabolic diseases (obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance) through physical activity and exercise in the young population. Recently, his research line has evolved and focuses on “Enhancing health through physical activity, exercise and nutrition, with special attention to active ageing, fragility and Alzheimer’s Disease”.

Henriette van Praag is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute at Florida Atlantic University and serves as co-Editor-in-Chief for the journal Brain Plasticity. She received her PhD from Tel-Aviv University (Israel). She completed postdoctoral training at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.