APSB05125U Elective course - Brain plasticity and neurorehabilitation

Brain plasticity and neurorehabilitation:
Recent years have been in the light of great advances regarding our understanding of the brain and the way it is being formed and shaped during the entire life. This course will explore the current knowledge about brain plasticity together with its potentials and limitations. We will discuss the mechanisms of brain plasticity across life span, learning and experiential influences, normal and pathological aging of the brain, as well as neuroprotection and brain repair. The implications of brain plasticity for the rehabilitation treatment of brain disease (such as acquired brain injury and neurodegenerative conditions) will form the common thread during the entire course. We will search answers for questions like ‘What does it take to change the structure of the brain and what is the evidence?’ ‘Can brain plasticity be supported by other means, such as exercise and pharmacology’, ‘Is the change in neural networks always paralleled by changes in behaviour?, and ‘How do we implement research findings into clinical practice?’. The course is built around knowledge from basic, pre-clinical and applied, clinical research with special focus on cognitive and social functions. It will emphasize converging evidence and aspects determining the translation of knowledge from bench to bedside.