2009 Calendar |
Jaideep Bains Stephen Avenue, Calgary
When Heritage Senior Scholar Dr. Jaideep Bains takes a break from his lab at the University of Calgary, he likes to seek out "the hubbub, the buzz of the city," he says. "There are a couple of places in Calgary where you really feel this, and Stephen Avenue is one of them. I think Calgary's urban environment is often underappreciated." In the lab, Dr. Bains studies how cells in the brain "talk" to each other. His particular interest is the role of glial cells. Although the human brain is more than half glial cells by volume, these cells were previously thought to do little more than hold the brain together so that the neurons (nerve cells) could do the important work of carrying messages. Dr. Bains's research has uncovered a rich two-way communication between neurons and glial cells. The discovery has led him to suspect that glial cells might be integral in coordinating the brain's response to stress. He is following up on this hunch with experiments recording the electrical signals from neurons and glial cells. "We're only beginning to scratch the surface in terms of understanding the dynamic interplay between different cell groups." |
