The Brain: the Ultimate Frontier

“Some say space is the final frontier, but I believe that the brain is the ultimate frontier” says Dr. Ryan Darcy, Brentwood '91, an acclaimed neuroscientist and entrepreneur who is currently leading a team of talented biomedical engineers, physicists, and other scientists at one of the foremost labs and treatment centers which is focusing on the brain and the treatment of those with brain damage.

This past Wednesday, a group of Brentwood students, ranging from Grades 9-12, were given the opportunity to travel to Surrey Memorial Hospital where they were given a tour of the facilities by Dr. Darcy. We were also allowed to try out some brain-wave testing technologies.

We arrived at the lab and were given a short introduction by Dr. Darcy, who outlined what it is that his team does, the short term care that they are able to give and the long term endeavours that they are undertaking. Then he introduced us to three members of his team (two biomedical engineers, Sujoy and Gabriel, and a physicist, Matt) who proceeded to show us an EEG and how it worked. We were then permitted to use it on one of our peers, Maria S, Hope ‘16, who tried it on permitting us to see how different facial actions and muscles movements affected her brain waves (laughing equals increased activity etc.).

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