The Resilient Brain: INN Scientists Are Studying Why Some Brains Stay Sharp

Have you ever wondered why some people’s brains remain resilient despite aging, stress, or signs of disease? It's a question that holds real promise: if we can understand what makes some brains thrive, we may be able to help many more do the same.

This question sits at the heart of the Brain Resilience Study, led by Dr. Brianne Kent, Associate Director of the Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (INN) and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Translational Neuroscience and Dementia.

Rather than just taking a snapshot of the brain, Dr. Kent’s team builds a more complete picture of each person by also collecting data on their cognitive functioning, genetics, lifestyle, environmental and other factors that all contribute to a person’s brain health. The study is enrolling 1,000 participants from the BC Generations Project, British Columbia’s largest study on chronic illness, and extending data collection to include cognitive tests of learning and memory, neuroimaging, and sleep tracking.

Dr. Kent presented the study this week at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society’s 2026 Annual Meeting in Vancouver as part of an INN symposium that brought together leading global experts in brain health and aging. Her team’s early findings suggest that in women, better sleep quality is linked to a more flexible, dynamic brain and better learning and memory performance. These results point to the importance of studying brain health across sexes.

The study will complete its first wave of data collection this year. The next step is to follow the same participants over many years, tracking exactly when and how their brains begin to change, and uncovering what protects some people from decline. This research will open the door to interventions before symptoms ever appear.

The answers are within reach. With your support, we can keep following these 1,000 stories, and invite more people to join them, for as long as it takes to find answers that matter. Support the Brain Resilience Study ➔