不良研究所

I am going into my third year of Neuroscience at the University of 不良研究所, but my interest in neuroscience started in grade 12. Back then, I volunteered at an elderly life program at a nearby hospital. There, I met patients living with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and dementia, and not only did I notice problems in their memory, but their mood would also be affected. I remember meeting a patient in distress, frantically asking for help getting up and dressed. She believed she needed to get ready to go to work, unaware she was retired and in a hospital. Having seen that firsthand, I wanted to make a difference.

For my PURE Award, I explored the concept of cognitive reserve, the ability of our brain to keep working despite pathological damage, protecting against the cognitive changes of neurodegenerative disease. We build cognitive reserve through education, occupation, and other mentally stimulating personal activities. The technical challenges of day-to-day research were intense. I had to learn to code complex variables, run statistical models, and interpret unexpected results through countless iterations with my supervisor and graduate student mentors.

However, the real transformation happened when I had to present my work. As someone who would rather take a multiple-choice exam than speak in front of a class, the prospect of oral presentations terrified me, but I pushed myself and presented my findings at both the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and at an international conference. Each presentation built up my confidence. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, presenting scientific findings is still intimidating. It feels like your work is under a microscope, and in a way, that鈥檚 true. However, stepping outside your comfort zone is essential for scientific collaboration. Don鈥檛 be afraid to ask questions, and to answer questions other researchers ask you. If they respond, that鈥檚 feedback and it鈥檚 going to help you long-term. The more you practice, the more your confidence will build up like the snowball effect.