Exercise is Good for the Brain as well as the Body: Effects on Gene Expression, Neural Function and Neuroprotection

Talk Summary: Sure, exercise is good for toning your muscles and keeping off those extra pounds. But good for your brain, too? Judy Cameron will talk about how exercise increases blood flow to the brain, increases alertness and attentiveness, and may be able to protect the brain against the development of age-related illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease. She also will discuss natural variation in the level of physical activity that individuals undertake, how these differences develop, and how they affect gene expression and neural function.

Biographical Sketch: Judy Cameron, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh; Senior Scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center; and Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience and Obstetrics & Gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). She also directs training programs in Women's Health Research and Reproductive Biology at OHSU. Over the past 10 years she has been a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Early Experience and Brain Development and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Dr. Cameron's research focuses on the effects of everyday life stresses on long-term health. Three current areas of interest in her laboratory are how exercise affects the brain; the effects of stress on reproductive function and what makes some individuals stress-sensitive whereas other individuals are stress-resilient; and effects of genetic factors and early life experiences on anxious and depressive behaviors. She also directs a large-scale collaborative genetic linkage analysis in rhesus monkeys to begin to identify chromosomal regions and eventually genes underlying various anxious behaviors and addictive behaviors, as well as related physiological measures including CSF monoamine levels and the propensity to be active versus sedentary. She has a long-term interest in understanding the interactions between physical health and mental health.

Judy Cameron, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh