Dr. Grant Gordon has early beginnings in health science and neuroscience. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Health Physiology, he pursued a PhD in Neuroscience under Dr. Jaideep S Bains at the University of Calgary. He then proceeded to work with Dr. Brian A MacVicar at the Brain Research Centre of the University of British Columbia.

Now, Dr. Gordon is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, a member of the Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in the cellular control of brain blood flow, and a director of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI)’s Advanced Microscopy Platform. His lab studies the relationship between neurons, astrocytes, and microvasculature in the neocortex, as well as the links between brain cell activity and the delivery of energy substrates via the blood in health and in models of disease. Their guiding hypothesis is that astrocytes are an essential hub integrating signals from both neurons and the microvasculature in order to appropriately fuel the brain’s high energy demand. To test this hypothesis, they use two-photon fluorescence imaging, electrophysiology and opto-/chemogenetics in acutely isolated brain slices, or in fully awake mice in vivo.