Speaker: Reza Khazaee (left), PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biology, Western University

Paper: Post-ischaemic silencing of p66Shc reduces ischaemia/reperfusion brain injury and its expression correlates to clinical outcome in stroke

Learning Objectives: Attendees will gain an appreciation of -

1. How the stress-response protein p66Shc contributes to oxidative stress and ischemia/reperfusion brain injury,

2. How post-ischaemic silencing of p66Shc influences infarct size, neurological outcomes, and blood-brain barrier integrity, and

3. Why p66Shc expression in stroke patients may serve as a clinically relevant marker of short-term recovery.

About the Speaker: Reza Khazaee is a PhD candidate in Biology at Western University, where he studies the interplay between oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease, with a focus on redox-related signalling pathways such as p66Shc and Nrf2. He has extensive expertise in fluorescence and electron microscopy and previously worked as a Microscopy Specialist at the Biotron Imaging Facility, supporting and training researchers in advanced imaging techniques. For his postdoctoral research, Reza will collaborate with the Whitehead Lab to develop biosensor-based approaches for real-time monitoring of neurodegenerative biomarkers in vivo, linking vascular dysfunction to cognition.

Speaker: Heidi Riek (right)

Paper: Use of immersive virtual reality to explore visual search behaviour in individuals with visuospatial neglect after stroke

About the Speaker: Heidi completed a BScH in Life Science, followed by a PhD in Neuroscience, both at Queen’s University. Her doctoral work explored the use of eye tracking as a source of behavioural markers for neurodegenerative disease, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. She is currently a new postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Rick Swartz at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Speaker: Thomas Oldreive (Rescheduled from Oct 6)
Paper: Utility of cerebrovascular imaging biomarkers to detect cerebral amyloidosis
Learning Objectives:

• Cerebrovascular imaging biomarkers can aid in predicting cerebral amyloid load, over basic demographic data

• The mechanisms connecting cerebrovascular disease and AD are complex and multi-facetted

• Multi-modal prediction offers a unique opportunity to understand the relationships between diseases