BrainConnects 2021

2021 Symposium Theme

Advanced Neurotechnology and Personalized Modeling for Brain Diseases

Aging is an inevitable progression in life which involves degeneration and often, disease. Cognitive and mental wellness are at the core of quality of life in aged persons because the brain and mind are central to all daily activities of life. In aged persons, quality of life is best preserved when independence in daily living is maintained, when emotional wellbeing is attained and when the aged are protected against injuries that frequently occur as a result of momentary lapses in ability that accompanies degeneration. Neuroscience and neuroimaging studies can characterize the various degenerative processes and provide the scientific framework to reason about plausible interventions to check or protect against the harmful effects of degeneration. As neuroimaging, metabolic, genomic/proteomic, nutritional and wearable technologies become increasingly accessible, new opportunities are emerging to apply these technologies to improve wellness in aging. The greatest value can be unlocked through development of novel analytics to integrate all the data acquired from periodic or longitudinal measurements, harmonization with the latest findings in brain sciences and deployment into assistive technologies with robotics and artificial intelligence.