UC Irvine School of Medicine associate professor awarded 19th Japan Academy Medal

Kei Igarashi, associate professor of anatomy & neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, has been named one of six scholars to win the 19th Japan Academy Medal. Widely considered the academy’s most prestigious award for Japanese researchers under the age of 45 in all fields of science and humanities, it was bestowed on Igarashi in recognition of his discoveries on the neural circuit mechanisms of associative memory and how they are affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Head trauma doesn’t predict memory problems in NFL retirees, UT Southwestern study shows

A study of retired professional football players by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that their cognitive abilities did not differ significantly from a control group of similarly aged men who did not play football, nor did those abilities show significant change over one to five years. The findings were published in Brain Injury.

Is brain learning weaker than artificial Intelligence?

Can the brain, with its limited realization of precise mathematical operations, compete with advanced artificial intelligence systems implemented on fast and parallel computers? From our daily experience we know that for many tasks the answer is yes! Why is this and, given this affirmative answer, can one build a new type of efficient artificial intelligence inspired by the brain? In an article published today in Scientific Reports, researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel solve this puzzle.

Hackensack Meridian JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute Is Researching A Breakthrough Wearable Medical Device To Accelerate Healing After A Stroke

JFK Johnson is one of 20 rehabilitation hospitals nationwide enrolling patients in the EMAGINE Stroke Recovery Trial, which aims to enhance recovery and reduce disability after neurologic damage caused by stroke. The wearable device, which can be used in a hospital setting, outpatient clinic, and at home would augment JFK Johnson’s existing rehabilitation therapies.

Cooling brain tumor cells could make headway in glioblastoma, UTSW researcher finds

Cooling brain tumor cells to stop them from dividing without killing healthy cells extended the survival of glioblastoma (GBM) animal models dramatically in a study led by a UT Southwestern resident. The findings, published in Science Advances, could lead to new treatments for this aggressive and deadly cancer.

New technique from UTSW improves high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment for brain disorders

UT Southwestern physicians have developed an improved targeting method, four-tract tractography, to personalize MRI-guided, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) used at UTSW to treat medication refractory tremor in essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease.

Ultrasound Device for Pain Gets ‘Nod’ from Shark Tank and NIH Funding

A project using focused ultrasound is one of seven selected by the NIH, which also has received successful reviews from ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Researchers are developing a handheld probe to provide a noninvasive, non-opioid-based treatment for aggravated chronic pain for use in a physician’s office or potentially even at home. The device directs low-intensity ultrasound at the dorsal root ganglia – small bundles of nerves along the spine that control pain signals reaching the spinal cord – to provide means for precise treatment of back and leg pain.

Researchers Find That Brains With More Vitamin D Function Better

Researchers at Tufts University have completed the first study examining levels of vitamin D in brain tissue, specifically in adults who suffered from varying rates of cognitive decline. They found that members of this group with higher levels of vitamin D in their brains had better cognitive function.

UCI researchers discover crucial role of brain’s striatum cilia in time perception

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 30, 2022 — Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have discovered that removal of cilia from the brain’s striatum region impaired time perception and judgment, revealing possible new therapeutic targets for mental and neurological conditions including schizophrenia, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, autism spectrum disorder, and Tourette syndrome.

Controversial Alzheimer’s drug approval sparks surprising impact

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 29, 2022 — When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave controversial accelerated approval to the first Alzheimer’s drug in nearly 20 years, it had a surprising impact on attitudes about research into the disease. A survey by University of California, Irvine neuroscientists has found news coverage of the FDA’s decision made the public less willing to volunteer for Alzheimer’s pharmaceutical trials.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Design Goes Deeper into Brain

As a noninvasive neuromodulation method, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) shows great potential to treat a range of mental and psychiatric diseases, including major depression. Current methods don’t go quite deep enough and are largely restricted to superficial targets within the brain, but a new TMS array with a special geometrical-shaped magnet structure will help stimulate deeper tissue.

UTSW scientists identify brain circuit that triggers rare, blood sugar-dependent epilepsy

A small group of brain cells linked in a circuit is responsible for setting off whole-brain seizures in a rare form of epilepsy affected by blood sugar levels, a study led by UT Southwestern researchers suggests. The finding, published in Science Translational Medicine, could lead to new treatments for other metabolic disorders in the brain, the authors said.

UCI-led study discovers pre-treatment cognitive impairment in younger cancer patients

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 16, 2022 — A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered that adolescent and young adult cancer patients can experience cancer-related cognitive impairment before chemotherapy or radiation treatment, highlighting the importance of evaluating and managing toxicity at the time of diagnosis to help prevent further deterioration.

UCI’s Oswald Steward to serve as president of Society for Neuroscience

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 15, 2022 — The University of California, Irvine today announced that Oswald Steward, director of the campus’s Reeve-Irvine Research Center, will assume the role of president of the Society for Neuroscience, the world’s largest organization for the study of the brain and nervous system, with more than 36,000 members in 95 countries.

Neuroimaging Study Reveals Functional and Structural Brain Abnormalities in People with Post-Treatment Lyme Disease

In a study using specialized imaging techniques, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report distinctive changes in the “white matter” and other brain tissue physiology of those with post-treatment Lyme disease, a condition affecting 10% to 20% of the nearly half a million Americans who contract Lyme disease annually.

Eye-opening discovery about adult brain’s ability to recover vision

A discovery about how some visually impaired adults could start to see offers a new vision of the brain’s possibilities. The finding that the adult brain has the potential to partially recover from inherited blindness comes from a collaboration between researchers in the University of California, Irvine School of Biological Sciences and the School of Medicine.

Brain-Like Organoids Grown in a Dish Provide Window into Autism

Whatever you do, don’t call them “mini-brains,” say University of Utah Health scientists. Regardless, the seed-sized organoids—which are grown in the lab from human cells—contained an array of neural and other cell types found in the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the brain involved in language, emotion, reasoning, and other high-level mental processes. They are providing insights into the brain and uncovering differences that may contribute to autism in some people.

Dr. Jaideep Bains to join UHN as new Director of the Krembil Research Institute

(Toronto, Oct. 3, 2022) – University Health Network (UHN) is pleased to announce that Dr. Jaideep Bains will be joining our team as the new Director of the Krembil Research Institute. The Krembil Research Institute, one of the principal institutes within UHN, comprises the Krembil Brain Institute, the Schroeder Arthritis Institute and the Donald K.

Sports Medicine Physician Available to Comment on Concussion Following Tua Tagovailoa’s Injury

Following last night’s concussion of Miami Dolphins football star Tua Tagovailoa, one sports medicine physician is reminding sports fans and athletes alike about the dangers of head injuries.  “Watching the frightening moment when Tua Tagovailoa was violently tackled and landed…

UCI is key member of multi-institutional, $126 million NIH brain mapping project

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 22, 2022 – The University of California, Irvine will participate in a five-year, multi-institutional, $126 million grant from the National Institutes of Health supporting the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network. The project aims to describe the cells that make up the human brain in unprecedented molecular detail, classifying them into more precise subtypes and pinpointing their location.

Mount Sinai Researchers Use Artificial Intelligence to Uncover the Cellular Origins of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders

Deep learning models represent “an entirely new paradigm for studying dementia”

Why We Fit A Mini Brain with a Mini Cap

It could be the world’s tiniest EEG electrode cap, created to measure activity in a brain model the size of a pen dot. Its designers expect the device to lead to better understanding of neural disorders and how potentially dangerous chemicals affect the brain.

This engineering feat, led by Johns Hopkins University researchers and detailed today in Science Advances, expands what researchers can accomplish with organoids, including mini brains—the lab-grown balls of human cells that mimic some of a brain’s structure and functionality.

How not to use brain scans in neuroscience

The idea that a lone snapshot of a brain can tell you about an individual’s personality or mental health has been the basis of decades of neuroscience studies. That approach was punctured by a paper in Nature earlier this year showing that scientists have massively underestimated how large such studies must be to produce reliable findings. At the center of the research is MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans. Reaching that conclusion required getting a far broader view of the field than was possible until recently. Along with colleagues at a number of institutions as well as his advisor, Pitt Professor of Psychiatry Beatriz Luna, Tervo-Clemmens combined three recent publicly available studies that together included MRI data from around 50,000 participants.

Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction Captures ‘Invisible’ Traumatic Brain Injuries

Rama Madhurapantula, of the Illinois Institute of Technology, will describe how synchrotron X-ray diffraction can aid in diagnosing invisible traumatic brain injuries in their presentation, “X-ray fiber diffraction to elucidate tissue transition and changes to molecular packing in relation damage,” held Sunday, July 31 at the annual ACA meeting. While traditional imaging methods work on the micron scale, Madhurapantula’s team showed synchrotron X-ray diffraction can capture much smaller changes to myelin on the nanometer to angstrom scale in situ.

Research reveals how brain inflammation may link Alzheimer’s risk, sleep disturbance

A multisite research team from the University of California, Irvine, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Wake Forest University has discovered that brain inflammation may link Alzheimer’s disease risk with sleep disturbance, which may aid early detection and prevention efforts by identifying novel treatment targets at preclinical stages.