Brain Awareness Week begins Monday, Mar. 15 at the University of Lethbridge and at schools throughout southern Alberta. It opens with a free public presentation on Monday, giving the public a chance to tune up their brains with one of North America's leading brain researchers.

Dr. Robert Sutherland, one of the principal investigators at the CCBN and a leading expert in the way the brain processes memory, will deliver a free public talk entitled The User Manual for your Brain on Monday evening beginning at 7 p.m. in room PE250 of the 1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness.

"One of the most basic facts in neuroscience is that you are your brain," says Sutherland. "Numerous events over a lifetime, including disease and rough handling, gradually diminish our brain/mind capabilities, frequently leading to dementia. Recent research shows that the brain has remarkable capacities for resilience."

Researchers, students and staff from the CCBN will also host an open house and Brain Awareness Fair on Saturday, Mar. 20, with research demonstrations, self-guided tours, plus the chance to win a $500 Posit Science memory enhancing system, among other door prizes.

The following local brain health related organizations will have information booths at the Brain Awareness Fair: Parkinson's Society; Heart and Stroke Foundation; Alzheimer's Society; The Brain Injury Network; Barons Eureka Warner Family and Community social services; MS Society; Southern Alberta Autism Consortium; Schizophrenia Society of Alberta.

For more on the study of neuroscience at the U of L, follow this link: http://www.uleth.ca/fas/neur/