Across Generations: BC Generations Project Newsletter, Winter 2024/25

Across Generations: BC Generations Project Newsletter, Winter 2024/25

Brain health study takes a closer look at our participants

Older couple walking outdoors.

In September 2024, the BC Generations Project began inviting a subset of its participants to join the Brain Resilience Study at Simon Fraser University.

Led by researchers Dr. Brianne Kent and Dr. Randy McIntosh from SFU’s Institute for Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, the nationally funded project is looking at a broad range of biological and social factors that can influence brain health and resilience over time.

“While Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia are quite common as people age, they should not be seen as a part of normal, healthy aging,” says Dr. Kent. “Our goal is to better understand the complex interactions that either increase or reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline.”

The three-year study aims to recruit up to 1,300 BC Generations Project participants. Participants will complete health and lifestyle questionnaires, cognitive tests and a sleep diary, plus have their activity levels monitored for two weeks via an activity tracking watch. They will also be asked to visit a nearby SFU campus for an electroencephalogram (EEG) to record their brain activity. Some participants will be invited to complete two additional non-invasive brain scans: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan to produce detailed brain images, and a Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure the magnetic fields produced by brain activity.

According to Dr. Kent, the ability to tap into the BC Generations Project’s study cohort accelerates and streamlines the recruitment process. “We can pre-screen participants so we’re only inviting people who are likely to be eligible for the study,” she says.

It’s also helpful to engage with people who have already demonstrated an interest in research. “So far, about half of the people invited through the BC Generations Project have joined our study,” Dr. Kent reports. This is a notable improvement on more typical response rates of 25-30%.

Equally powerful will be the opportunity for the study to access health data that the Project has already collected from participants over the past 15 years. This will enable the study to analyze people’s lifestyle, work, and health behaviours over a much longer timespan. There is even the potential for accessing biosamples to examine whether any markers in historical blood and urine samples might suggest how participants’ brains are functioning today.

Transforming your work history into quality data

Two researchers looking at computer screen

BC Generations Project participants previously responded to an Occupational History Questionnaire, which generated more than 120,000 individual records containing work history details. Now, the Project is leading a study that taps into a subset of this data to increase our knowledge about job-related cancer risks. The study aims to compare how exposure to carcinogenic materials varies across different types of jobs and work schedules (e.g., day, night and rotating shifts).

The first step of this study requires almost 18,500 work history records to be individually assessed and categorized according to standardized job and industry classification systems. This converts the descriptive information provided by respondents into a reliable numeric dataset, enabling later analysis.

A small team of research assistants is completing this tedious work, which requires close attention to detail and good judgment to ensure data quality and consistency. To date, 85% of this subset has been coded. The results of this approach – which currently uses no automated processes apart from quality control checks – will be assessed to help inform how occupational data is handled for future projects.

Looking good 15 years later

Photos of young boy and woman

The BC Generations Project is marking its 15th anniversary! Many of our almost 30,000 participants have been with us since 2009, donating health data and biosamples to help us build a massive health research platform to benefit all Canadians. Thank you for your support!

We recently introduced a vibrant new visual identity to see us through the next 15 years. Look for the Project’s distinctive blue and green tree logo on all our communication materials.

Don’t Lose Touch

If you’re planning to move or change your email address, please let us know by sending your new contact details to bcgenupdate@bccrc.ca
or calling 604.675.8221
(toll free 1.877.675.8221).

Data on request

The BC Generations Project recently rolled out a new online resource just for researchers.

Our BCGP Research Portal provides the research community with a consolidated system to review the data and biological samples we have collected from our nearly 30,000 participants. Researchers can now submit a request for data and biospecimen access directly through the Portal.

Help spread the word

Do you have friends or family living in Saskatchewan or Manitoba? These newest cohorts in CanPath are recruiting participants aged 30-74! Residents of these two provinces can join by reaching out to:

Healthy Future Sask logo

(healthyfuturesask.ca) – recruiting throughout 2025

Cancer Care Manitoba logo

(manitobatomorrowproject.ca) – recruiting to March 1, 2025