Memory Week

Monday 20^th – Friday 24th September

Silver Santé project coordinator, Dr Gaël Chételat and her team invite you to attend two ‘Come and taste the memory’ workshops being held on 21^st September and 23^rd September at 3pm at the Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines (MRSH), University of Caen, as part of the fourth national ‘Memory Week’ event.

The workshops will focus on the functioning and dysfunctions of different memory systems and will include opportunities to discuss this important topic with other fellow scientists and researchers in person.  Anne-Lise Pitel (PhIND INSERM), Karine Lebreton (NIMS, University of Caen) and Dr Chételat will lead the sessions.

To see the full programme of events and register visit: https://bit.ly/3EbMemc  

Laboratory: Inserm U1237, PhIND, Caen, France (dir : Pr Denis Vivien), Team Multimodal
Neuroimaging and Lifestyle in Aging and Alzheimer’s disease (Dr. Gaël Chételat)

PhD Title: Assessing the influence of lifestyle factors on cognition and brain biomarkers of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease

This project will be part of the Medit-Ageing European project, led by Dr. Gaël Chételat (Caen, France). Medit-Aging includes 10 partners from 6 European Countries (France, Belgium, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Spain) and aims at investigating the influence of meditation and foreign language learning on mental health and well-being in the ageing population. In that context, we included ~140 cognitively unimpaired older adults who underwent multimodal neuroimaging (structural, functional MRI, diffusion imaging, FDG- and amyloid PET), detailed behavioral evaluations (cognition, lifestyle, psychoaffective factors) and blood sampling (blood markers and genetics). All exams were done at inclusion and after an 18-month period, during which part of the participants received an intervention (either based on meditation or second language learning); a long-term follow-up of these participants is currently ongoing.

The PhD student will mainly work on the Medit-Ageing data, but might also work on other available datasets. The main objective of the PhD project will be to better understand the influence of lifestyle factors on cognition, well-being and neuroimaging. More specifically, the project will investigate the relationships between cognitive, physical, social activity and diet and measures of cognition and brain integrity (including MRI and PET). Part of this project will also focus on the effect of the interventions, with the objective of better characterizing the influence of second language learning on older adults’ brain and function.

The PhD position is already funded and should start between September 1st 2021 and December 1st 2021. This 3-year position follows standard French salaries at Inserm. The student will be a member of the Chételat lab, located in Caen, France. She/he will be in charge of data analyses (behavioral and neuroimaging) and dissemination of the results
(communications in conferences and manuscript publication). She/he will also be involved in the lab activities (which might include data acquisition, data entry, quality control etc.).

Candidate profile and requirements:

• The candidates must have a MSc in psychology, neuropsychology, neurosciences, or related
• field.
• We are looking for highly motivated candidates with scientific curiosity and good teamwork
• skills
• Previous experience in the field of aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and/or neuroimaging would be
• an advantage.
• Proficiency in written and oral English is required. Speaking French would be an asset.

Application:

Please send a curriculum vitae, a letter on motivation and interests and at least 1 reference
letter (2 whenever possible).

Please send your application before August 15th to Julie Gonneaud: gonneaud@cyceron.fr
For further information about the Silver Santé Study visit the project website at http://www.silversantestudy.eu or watch the project’s 3-minute film at http://ow.ly/Lhle30lUZqp.

Further info on the Chételat Lab can be found at http://www.chetelat-lab.fr.

Opening of a PhD position in Lyon, France at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, DYCOG Team,INSERM U1028 – CNRS UMR5292, under the direction of Dr. Antoine Lutz in the doctoral school Neurosciences and Cognition (ED 476 – NSCO) of Lyon University.

Title: Investigating the neuroimaging correlates of meditation expertise during a socio-affective paradigm.

The position is to be filled as soon as October 1^st 2021. The fellowship will involve working on an EC-funded Silver Santé Study –research project investigating the impacts of mental training techniques, such as meditation and language-learning, on mental health and well-being in Europe’s ageing population. The 5-year project is led by Dr Gaël Chételat of INSERM in Caen, France. This H2020 European project includes 10 partners in 6 European Countries. The present project will collaborate in particular with the Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition at the University of Geneva (Prof. Patrik Vuilleumier and Dr. Olga Klimecki, experts in Affective Neuroscience).  For further information about the Silver Santé Study visit the project website at www.silversantestudy.eu or watch the project’s 3-minute film at  http://ow.ly/Lhle30lUZqp. The protocols of the study are described in the manuscripts listed below. In this project, Dr. Lutz is the leader work-package Meditation supervising in particular the meditation interventions and the study of meditation experts.

Summary

The primary goal of this doctoral work is to analyze and publish one datasets of fMRI data on the cross-sectional relationship between meditation training and emotion regulation in brain and behavior collected in a group of expert senior meditators (>10,000 hours of meditation in life, > 65 year old) compared to aged-matched healthy older adults.  The aim of this project is to identify the neural signatures of meditation states in senior expert meditators using a fMRI paradigm called the socio-affective video task (SoVT). This paradigm allows to investigate this link between emotion, meditation and aging both on a behavioral and neural level. The main emotional mechanism measured by this task relates to the capacity to regulate responses to aversive situations from daily life, as it exposes participants to video clips of individuals suffering. Resting-state periods distributed throughout the task additionally allow to evaluate emotional recovery from these stressful events, both in terms of brain activity and experienced emotions. A sample of senior expert meditators (n = 27-30 experts) will be examined for this cross-sectional study. Participants will perform the SoVT under two meditation states (mindfulness and compassion, respectively), which will allow to map distinct neural signatures of meditation expertise. Specifically, functional connectivity analyses will allow to determine for the first time the brain networks recruited during emotion regulation as a function of meditation state. Data for this paradigm has already been collected in a sample of 140 healthy seniors novices to meditation and 25 expert meditators. The data have been analyzed for the novices. Following this project, the candidate will have opportunity to work on various research questions/ dataset related either to the Meditageing project or to another large brain imaging dataset on meditation (ERC consolidator Brain& Mindfulness) using MRI, fMRI, or  EEG.

 Candidates should have a Master in psychology, or cognitive and/or affective neurosciences.  The candidate should have, ideally, previous experiences in analyzing functional neuroimaging using SPM and to be familiar with research on meditation or empathy.  Theoretical and practical experiences with the following software will be relevant:  Matlab, statistical software (R), standard neuroimaging software (e.g. SPM, freesurfer). Proficiency in written and oral English is required.

The doctoral fellowship could start September 1^st 2021 or October 1^st 2021. This 3-year position follows standard French salaries at INSERM. To apply for this position, please send a curriculum vitae with references, cover letter describing research interest and experience to Antoine Lutz (antoine.lutz@inserm.fr). Please write in the title (“Application to the MEDITAGEING doctoral fellowship”).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Lutz, A., Klimecki, O.M., Collette, F., Poisnel, G., Arenaza-Urquijo, E., Marchant, N.L., De La Sayette, V., Rauchs, G., Salmon, E., Vuilleumier, P., Frison, E., Vivien, D., Chételat, G., Medit-Ageing Research Group, 2018. The Age-Well observational study on expert meditators in the Medit-Ageing European project. Alzheimers Dement (N Y) 4, 756–764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2018.11.002

Poisnel, G., Arenaza-Urquijo, E., Collette, F., Klimecki, O.M., Marchant, N.L., Wirth, M., de La Sayette, V., Rauchs, G., Salmon, E., Vuilleumier, P., Frison, E., Maillard, A., Vivien, D., Lutz, A., Chételat, G., Medit-Ageing Research Group, 2018. The Age-Well randomized controlled trial of the Medit-Ageing European project: Effect of meditation or foreign language training on brain and mental health in older adults. Alzheimers Dement (N Y) 4, 714–723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trci.2018.10.011

Over 90 attendees from across Europe, the United States and Australia joined the online public meeting on 16^th June 2021, where ongoing research by the Silver Santé Study investigating the impact of interventions on mental health and well-being in the ageing population, was presented.

The online meeting, Mental Health & Well-being in the Ageing Population: Research, Risks and Recommendations covered presentations and discussions on a range of topics on mental health and well-being in older adults.  A key topic was the Brain health of older participants of the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, and whether psycho-affective factors such as sleep, physical activity and self-reflection can mitigate the risks of developing dementia.  The perception of meditation and mindfulness as therapies or activities over the last five years was also explored.

Expert guest speakers David Bartres Faz, Professor of Medical Psychology at the University of Barcelona and Dr James Kirby, Senior Lecturer & Clinical Psychologist at the University of Queensland joined the meeting.  Professor Bartres Faz presented results from the Barcelona Brain Health Initiative study that is investigating mental health effects and moderators during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr James Kirby spoke about his personal experiences as a clinical psychologist, raising awareness of the increase in research on meditation and growing acceptance of the emotional aspects concerned such as compassion.

During the final session of the day, expert meditator Martine Batchelor and English teachers – Corinne Schimmer of Carré International and Caitlin Ware of INSERM – shared their experiences of delivering the interventions with trial participants, highlighting the emotional benefits of meditation and the feasibility of learning a language at any age.  This session was enriched by feedback on their experiences of being involved from participants directly involved in the study.

Project Co-ordinator Dr Gael Chételat of INSERM, said:

“The global population is ageing and as we live longer, ensuring good mental as well as physical health in later years is becoming ever more important.  The two clinical trials conducted by our expert researchers in six European countries have assessed the impact of mental training techniques and lifestyle changes on the mental health and well-being of older adults.  The Silver Santé Study is the longest ever study of both meditation and foreign language learning and is the first research to examine the emotional aspects of ageing and mental health.

This public meeting was a unique opportunity for us to share and cascade our findings, methodologies and data to a range of interested audiences across Europe and stimulate discussion in this area.”

Students and post-docs working on the EU funded Silver Santé Study gathered online to showcase their work with peers and supervisors at a ‘mini’ project consortium meeting (28 April 2021).

The meeting featured more than 20 presentations from students in France, UK, Belgium, and Germany covering the project’s core themes of meditation, lifestyle, attention, emotion, cognition, and biomarkers.  Results from the Age-Well and SCD-Well trials undertaken during the 5 year EU funded Silver Santé Study were presented and discussed, together with recent research investigating the impact on brain health of older participants of the restrictions imposed due to Covid-19.

PhD student, Tim Whitfield, of University College London, who was one of the organisers, said:
“The ‘mini’ meeting was a great opportunity for students and research leaders to come together to share project information and results, discuss the implications of our studies and ultimately advance our understanding of how to safeguard mental health and well-being in the ageing population. 

Co-organiser, Francesca Felisatti, a PhD student at the University of Caen added: “This was the first Silver Santé Study event of its kind, and I am extremely proud to have been a part of it!”

Making lifestyle changes, such as taking up mindfulness or health self-management courses, can help improve the mental health of older adults who are already experiencing memory problems, according to a new scientific study.

The research, published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, studied the impact of an eight-week mindfulness or health self-management course on anxiety, which is associated with increased risk of dementia.

The volunteers, all with subjective cognitive decline (self-perceived memory problems that cannot be verified by testing), had anxiety levels measured before, directly after the courses and again six months later. The results showed that anxiety levels had reduced directly after both the mindfulness and health self-management courses , and the reduction was maintained at six months. No difference in reduction of anxiety was found between the courses.

Dr Natalie Marchant, of University College London, UK who led the trial, said: “Although we expected mindfulness meditation to have more of an impact on mental health, the results of our trial show that small but significant improvements in mental health can be observed after a short course of mindfulness or health self-management in people who are already experiencing some subjective cognitive decline, and the effects last for at least six months.”

The SCD-Well trial included 147 participants from memory clinics in France, Spain, Germany and the UK, with blood tests, cognitive assessments, and questionnaires used to assess the impact of the interventions.  The full details of the study can be viewed here.

Dr Marchant, concluded: “Our results offer an encouraging first step towards providing an intervention that could be used to reduce anxiety and potentially the risk of developing dementia which would benefit both individuals and society as a whole in terms of the associated emotional, health and social care costs of poor mental health.”

Hear from Jenny Cleary, of Loughton, Essex who took part in the SCD -Well trial after experiencing problems with her memory, by clicking on the image below.

Research, Risks and Recommendations

Wednesday 16th June 2021

09:30- 16:45 CEST

08:30- 15:45 BST

The Silver Santé Study invites you to Save the Date for the project’s online public meeting on Wednesday 16^th June 2021. The meeting will focus on important and timely topics highlighting the research, risks and recommendations generated by participants in the Silver Santé Study with external guest speakers. The online event will be split into five sessions:

Session 1:  COVID-19 & its potential impact on health in ageing

Session 2: Lifestyle & Psycho-affective factors associated with brain health

Session 3: Meditation & Mindfulness – perception & practice change

Session 4: Mitigating the risk of developing dementia

Session 5: Voices from the study – the experiences of participants & their teachers

Register below.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mental-health-well-being-in-the-ageing-population-tickets-153804672917

This event has now ended.