Latest

UCSD

Featured Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos Psychology

·March 12, 2020·5 min read

How brain biology promotes starvation in patients with anorexia nervosa

Hunger fails to activate food reward circuits in people with anorexia.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·February 14, 2020·4 min read

Subtle decline in cognition predicts progression to Alzheimer’s pathology

Cognitive performance may predict the progression from normal to abnormal levels of Alzheimer's associated amyloid-beta.

This shows a doctor giving a newborn a blood prick test

Autism Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·February 13, 2020·5 min read

Predicting autism risk may begin with a drop of blood

Study will analyze dried blood spots from newborns for over 1,000 different chemicals and molecules. The presence of some of the molecules may predict autism risk years before symptoms appear, allowing for early treatment and possible prevention.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·February 11, 2020·6 min read

Human gut-in-a-dish model helps define ‘leaky gut,’ and outline a pathway to treatment

A new 3D human gut organoid reveals the molecular system that keeps the intestinal linings sealed and how dysfunction can occur. Findings reveal the diabetes drug metformin can help strengthen the intestinal lining.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 29, 2020·4 min read

New injection technique may boost spinal cord injury repair efforts

Researchers have developed a new method for delivering neural precursor cells into rat models of spinal cord injury. The method is safe, effective, and reduces the likelihood of further spinal trauma while delivering larger doses of reparative stem cells. The new approach could also be used for the treatment of ALS and multiple sclerosis.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·January 18, 2020·4 min read

Researchers identify gene with functional role in aging of eye

The gene Elovl2 appears to play a significant role in age-associated functional and anatomical aging in mouse retinas. The finding has direct implications for age-related eye diseases, such as macular degeneration. When the expression of the gene was boosted, age-related visual function improved.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 14, 2020·5 min read

Alcohol dependence results in brain-wide remodeling of functional architecture

Using a novel imaging technique, researchers produce a whole mouse brain atlas, which reveals how alcohol addiction, and abstinence, alter the functional architecture of the brain.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·January 1, 2020·5 min read

Objective subtle cognitive difficulties predict amyloid accumulation and neurodegeneration

Amyloid accumulation occurs faster in those who have objectively-defined cognitive difficulties than older people who are considered to be cognitively normal. Mild cognitive impairment is also associated with faster hippocampal and entorhinal cortex atrophy.

Autism Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·December 26, 2019·5 min read

Measuring mutations in sperm may reveal risk for autism in future children

Spontaneous mutations in a father's sperm may be linked to autism spectrum disorder in their offspring. UCSD researchers have developed a new method of quantifying the mutations and assessing the likelihood that the mutations will contribute to ASD.

Brain Cancer Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·November 21, 2019·5 min read

Non-coding DNA located outside chromosomes may help drive glioblastoma

Extra DNA is critical for maintaining cancer-causing gene activation and supporting the cancer cell's ability to survive.

Image shows a child standing under a street lamp alone

Autism Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·September 23, 2019·4 min read

Perturbed genes regulating white blood cells linked to autism genetics and severity

Blood gene expression analysis uncovered a critical gene network that is disrupted in Autism. The disrupted gene network is related to fetal brain development and is also dysregulated in ASD cellular models. The findings provide further evidence that genetic factors influencing brain development during pregnancy are a primary cause of autism spectrum disorder.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·September 15, 2019·3 min read

How the eyes might be windows to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, have greater pupil dilation when taking cognitive tests than their cognitively normal peers. Task-evoked pupillary response may be a cost-effective, and low invasive screening test for those at genetic risk for Alzheimer's before the symptoms of the disease take hold.