McMaster Institute for Research on Aging invited to participate in Université Grenoble Alpes’ Living Well, Aging Well Thematic Summer School

From June 16-20, 2025, the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) was proud to participate in Université Grenoble Alpes’ (UGA) 2025 thematic summer school, Bien Vivre Bien Veillir (Living Well Aging Well), in Archamps, France. Featuring panels of international experts, groupwork sessions, and cultural excursions, the school brought together interested parties to discuss the societal challenges of individual and collective aging. Three members of the MIRA training network participated: Dr. Rebecca Ganann and Dr. Vanessa de Rubeis, as guest lecturers, and PhD student Maheshwar Panday as a participant. Read on to learn about their individual experiences in the program. 

One of McMaster’s larger institutes, MIRA is an interdisciplinary network involving 6 faculties, 48 departments, and approximately 200 researchers and 125 trainees across campus. The institute works to support researchers and fund research studying health and aging, with aims to optimize the health and longevity of Canada’s aging population. With steadfast values of integrity, excellence, collaboration, inclusion, and transparency, MIRA works to improve the lives of aging adults through research partnerships and innovation. They have been in contact with UGA regarding work on aging since UGA’s Faculty of Pharmacy January 2025 visit to McMaster. The UGA-MIRA Living Well Aging Well Summer School collaboration is an exciting example of the possibilities of international research partnerships. For more information about the Living Well Aging Well Summer School programming, please click here. 

Maheshwar Panday’s experience as Living Well Aging Well Summer School participant 

Maheshwar Panday, a PhD student in Neuroscience, working under the supervision of MIRA member Dr. Kathy Murphy, recounts his experience in the Living Well Aging Well as a school participant.  

“I took part in the Bien Vivre Bien Vieillir (Living Well, Aging Well) Summer School as a visiting student, joining peers from Université Grenoble Alpes for a week-long, thematic program on aging research. The program brought together graduate students and guest lecturers from fields including history, cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology, geriatric care, neurobiology, and bio-health engineering—creating a rare space for meaningful cross-disciplinary dialogue. Aging is an inherently complex process, and hearing how it’s approached from such different angles reinforced how interconnected our work really is—between disciplines and across languages. Engaging with this breadth of perspectives not only deepened my understanding of aging research, but also pushed me to reconsider the broader impact of my own work. I was particularly struck by how innovative methods in one field can lead to unexpected insights in another—often in ways that challenge conventional thinking. I also presented my research in French for the first time, which gave me a fresh perspective on my science and how I communicate it. I arrived in Archamps not knowing anyone, and left with a fantastic group of friends and a rich network of peers and mentors. This was a deeply meaningful experience that will continue to shape my path as a researcher.” 

Maheshwar Panday’s research focuses on cellular neuroscience, applying high-dimensional, data-driven analytical approaches to investigate how age, sex and disease status influence brain cell morphologies. He uses unsupervised computational techniques (e.g., clustering algorithms and dimensionality reduction) to uncover phenotypic variability among cell types and identify the subtle, but consistent, morphological patterns associated with aging often missed by traditional methods. This work supports a growing shift in neuroscience toward more precise and scalable ways to understand the brain at the cellular level. As biological research increasingly depends on larger, high-content datasets, there’s a critical need for sensitive methods that can detect small changes—because even slight differences in individual brain cells can have wide-reaching effects on health and development, and disease. 

Dr. Rebecca Ganann’s experience as Living Well Aging Well Summer School guest lecturer 

McMaster’s Dr. Rebecca Ganann was also able to participate in-person, delivering a guest lecture on citizen science and the EMBOLDEN study, which is an integrated care innovation to promote heath and equity among community dwelling older adults, at the Living Well Aging Well Summer School on June 17th. “It was a great group of students from diverse international contexts, and wonderful hosts, Dr. Christophe Capuano and the European Scientific Institute,” Dr. Ganann wrote. “I enjoyed working with the students, as well as learning from the other internationally-based presenters. It was an excellent opportunity to explore research on aging from the diverse disciplinary lenses. I also really appreciated the opportunity to join the group on the very special visit to Geneva and the tour of the United Nations Office at Geneva. I look forward to opportunities to continue to collaborate and build relationships between McMaster University and the University of Grenoble Alpes.” 

An Associate Professor in the McMaster University School of Nursing, Dr. Rebecca Ganann’s research program aims to address health inequities among community-dwelling older adults through integrated health and social service delivery innovations. She achieves this through co-designing, evaluating, and translating these innovative models to promote health and well-being. She leads the EMBOLDEN project, a MIRA-supported initiative that seeks to improve older adults mobility through improving nutrition, physical activity, social connection and system navigation. 

Dr. Vanessa de Rubeis’ experience as online guest lecturer

On June 16th, Dr. Vanessa de Rubeis participated in Living Well Aging Well as a guest lecturer. She participated online, delivering a virtual presentation on the epidemiology of obesity and stress across the life course, emphasizing the importance of using a life-course approach to better understand healthy aging. Participants were engaged, asking thoughtful questions throughout the session.  

Dr. Vanessa de Rubeis is a MIRA postdoctoral fellow working under Drs. Parminder Raina and Andrea Gonzalez. She is using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to better understand aging and the lifecourse, and is also a Research Consultant with the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Adolescent Health and Aging at the World Health Organization.