A St. FX psychology professor that studies brain health has received almost 175-thousand dollars in research funding.
Dr. Erin Mazerolle is a recipient of the John R. Evans Leaders Fund award, co-funded by the
Dr. Erin Mazerolle (St. FX photo)
federal government through the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
The money will be used to purchase a Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy System. Like an EEG, it measures brain activity from sensors on the scalp, but unlike EEG, which measures electrical activity, this unit measures changes in blood flow and blood oxygen associated with brain activity.
The new equipment also includes a respiratory gas analyzer and related software, hardware and a gas delivery system for her project “Neurovascular Research Infrastructure for Improving Brain Health. ”
The unit is portable, offering improved accessibility and could possibly be a major advance over current technologies used for clinical brain imaging, which are very expensive and usually less available in rural areas.
The university’s Associate Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. Richard Isnor says this new equipment and Mazerolle’s research significantly expands health research efforts at St. FX.