At MON Lab we combine unique biological, physiological and nutritional techniques to investigate and understand the underlying effects of obesity that contribute to weight gain and disease. We want to know what makes an individual with obesity unique. Our focus is in linking how molecules and cells in the blood and tissue interact with the whole body to contribute to the variations in outcomes of treatment and chronic disease prevention. Through this talk, we will discuss some of the uniqu...

The majority of immune development and the ability to ‘tolerate’ food proteins occurs after birth, during the period when most infants’ are consuming human milk. The omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), is required for immune function but Canadian have one of the lowest contents of DHA in their breast milk in the world. The content of this fatty acid is highly variable in breast milk and depends primarily on dietary intake. Using information from the ...

In this talk, we will present our recent developments in the context of Personalized functional Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (fNIRS) investigations, which consist in optimizing placement of fNIRS sources and detectors on the head of the participant in order to maximize fNIRS sensitivity to some targeted brain regions, while allowing accurate local 3D reconstructions of fluctuations of oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin along the cortical surface. Personalized fNIRS investigations could be ...

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) are two established techniques which allow monitoring brain health non-invasively. With the foundation of our seminal NIRS-DCS work on neonates, we are developing novel devices and approaches to better quantify cerebral blood oxygenation, cerebral blood flow and oxygen metabolism in the clinical setting both in children and adults. In particular, in the last few years we have made substantial progress on D...

Regional brain function is determined by its local structure and connectivity. I will present work from our lab that strives to quantify connectivity for applications in healthy development and understanding the impact of disease - focusing on understanding normative cerebellar connectivity and quantifying the impact of stroke. I will also touch on some recent work linking interhemispheric functional connectivity to bimanual motor control in older adults.

Safe mobility is vital to the functional independence of older adults. Executive functions such as working memory updating and dividing attention play an increasingly important role in supporting mobility in old age. This talk describes recent studies that examine the influence of cognitive and sensory challenges to complex motor performance. Featured are recent cognitive training and exercise intervention studies designed to target executive functions to improve mobility and cognition in old...