Latest

UC Irvine

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·May 8, 2023·5 min read

Eye-Opening Drug Discovery May Help Treat Age-Related Macular Degeneration

350 million people worldwide are believed to suffer from blinding diseases including age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Researchers have discovered a small class of drugs, dubbed SREDs, that have the potential to treat a range of blinding diseases.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 5, 2023·3 min read

How to Prevent a High-Fat Diet From Throwing Metabolism Out of Whack

Eliminating SAPS3 from the genome of mice allowed the AMPK protein complex to activate and maintain normal energy balance, even with high-fat meals. This discovery could pave the way for developing a new approach to metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·February 27, 2023·4 min read

Early-Life Stress Can Disrupt Maturation of Brain’s Reward Circuits, Promoting Disorders

Researchers have identified a novel stress-sensitive pathway in the reward system of the brain that releases corticotropin-releasing hormone in response to stress. Adverse experiences cause this pathway to become overactive.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·January 30, 2023·5 min read

How Our Brains Turn Into Smarter Disease Fighters

CRISPR gene editing created the G795A amino acid which was introduced to microglia derived from human stem cells. Researchers were able to transplant the donor microglia immune cells into humanized rodent models while administering an FDA-approved cancer drug called pexidartinib. The inclusion of the amino acid cause the donated microglia to thrive and resist the drug, while the host microglia died. The findings open the door for new methods of using microglia to treat a range of neurodegenerative disorders.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 30, 2022·4 min read

A Crucial Role of Brain’s Striatum Cilia in Time Perception

Destruction or removal of the cilia in the striatum impairs time perception and judgment, new research suggests. The findings could have implications for a range of diseases including schizophrenia, ASD, and Parkinson's.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·November 30, 2022·4 min read

Controversial Alzheimer’s Drug Approval Sparks Surprising Impact

Media coverage of the FDA-approved Alzheimer's drug aducanumab made the public less willing to volunteer in Alzheimer's pharmaceutical trials.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·November 21, 2022·4 min read

Repeated Stress Accelerates Aging of the Eye

Stress such as intraocular pressure elevation in the eye causes the retinal tissue to undergo transcriptional and epigenetic changes similar to natural aging.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·October 6, 2022·4 min read

The Adult Brain Can Recover Lost Vision

Administering a chemical compound called synthetic retinoids to the retina helped restore brain networks associated with vision and prompted the growth of two times more neurons, effectively restoring vision in adult mouse models of the genetic visual disorder LCA.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 27, 2022·4 min read

What Brings Our Senses and Thoughts Together?

Study reveals the role the neocortex plays in our ability to think, recall events, and make decisions.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·September 2, 2022·5 min read

Circadian Rhythm Disruption Found to Be Common Among Mental Health Disorders

Circadian rhythm disruption is a psychopathological factor shared by a broad range of mental illnesses.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 23, 2022·4 min read

Distorted Time Perception During the Pandemic

Many people report their perception of time felt distorted during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, including problems in tracking the day of the week or feeling as though time was passing slower. Researchers say this temporal disintegration was, in part, associated with pandemic related stressors.