The Neurobiology of Brain and Behavioral Development

Dr. Gibb is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge. She received her Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD degrees from the University of Lethbridge. Gibb’s animal research is focused on how early experiences influence brain development and recovery from early brain injury. She has examined maternal prenatal experience and paternal preconception experience as factors that influence the organization of the developing brain and offspring behaviour lifelong. Gibb's human research is centred on early development and interrelationship of motor control, language, and executive function in preschoolers. She serves on the advisory board for the Institute of Child and Youth studies at the University of Lethbridge and is an affiliate with the Institute of Child and Youth Studies at the university. Dr. Gibb has co-authored a handbook on practical advice to promote healthy brain development in children and a curriculum for supporting parent/caregiver interactions to foster development of executive function. She has written or co-authored over 90 articles and book chapters and given more than 150 invited presentations on brain development to scientists, health professionals, educators, parents and the general public in the past five years. Dr. Kolb is currently a Professor in the Department Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge, where he has been since 1976. He received his PhD from Pennsylvania State University and did postdoctoral work at the U of Western Ontario and the Montreal Neurological Institute. His recent work has focused on the development of the prefrontal cortex and how neurons of the cerebral cortex change in response to various pre- and postnatal developmental factors including hormones, experience, stress, drugs, neurotrophins, and injury, and how these changes are related to adult behaviour. Dr. Kolb has published 6 books, including two textbooks with Ian Whishaw (Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, 7th Edition; Introduction to Brain and Behavior, 5th Edition), and over 400 articles and chapters. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is a Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research program in Child Brain Development.

General Perspectives in Brain Development 1. Overview of Brain Development 2. Perspectives on behavioral development 3. Overview of factors affecting brain development 4. The role of animal models in developmental brain research

Molecular Perspectives in Brain Development 5. Stem Cells to Function 6. Critical periods and cortical development 7. Epigenetics and genetics of brain development

Behavior 8. Visual System 9. Motor Systems 10. Language and cognition 11. Toward an Understanding of the Neural Basis of Executive Function Development 12. Rough-and-tumble play and the development of the social brain: What do we know, how do we know it, and what do we need to know?

Factors Influencing Development 13. Brain Plasticity and Experience 14. Hormones and Development 15. Injury 16. Socio-economic status