News

Friday, December 15, 2023
Talker: Health breakthrough reveals new treatment to relieve phantom limb pain

In a study led by the University of Pittsburgh and published in Nature Biomdical Eingineering, researchers found an electrical pulse delivered to the spinal cord of amputees from their prosthetic limb "significantly" reduced pain coming from the missing limb. Learn More

Thursday, November 30, 2023
Brain Inflammation Linked to Mood Changes of Alzheimer's Disease

Postdoctoral researcher Cristiano Aguzzoli, associate professor Tharick Pascoal, and their Pitt School of Medicine team report in JAMA Open Network that brain inflammation, rather than amyloid plaque or tau tangles, are the origin of irritability and agitation in people with Alzheimer's disease. Learn More

Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Blood test for astrocyte reactivity predicts future Alzheimer's

In Nature Medicine, Tharick Pascoal shows that abnormal astrocyte activation combined with amyloid build-up are disease harbingers. Learn More

Tuesday, May 23, 2023
PittMed: Fresh perspectives on how to tackle Alzheimer's

Pitt builds a critical mass of researchers in multiple disciplines to probe a broad range of possible culprits that converge to cause the disease. Learn More

Thursday, May 18, 2023
New York Times: National Sports Brain Bank opens today at Pitt

Julia Kofler leads studies on the roles that age, genetics, substance abuse, and the number of hits to the head play in the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Learn More

Thursday, May 4, 2023
In SCIENCE: What happens when a top Parkinson's researcher gets the disease

Tim Greenamyre, who has studied Parkinson's for more than 30 years, sees new hope on the horizon. Learn More

Thursday, May 4, 2023
Don't miss these 5 things in Jonas Salk exhibit

The items tell the story of the pioneering work to develop and test the first polio vaccine at Pitt. Learn More

Tuesday, May 2, 2023
New model helps explain how the brain recognizes spoken words

Vatsun Sadagopan and colleagues devised a machine-learning model to study sound-processing networks in the guinea pig brain. Learn More

Monday, April 24, 2023
What's the neural basis for deliberative thought?

In Nature Neuroscience, Bill Stauffer shows that monkeys use mathematical reasoning to tackle complex problems.  Learn More

Wednesday, April 19, 2023
NPR: Brain Institute weighs in on new brain model

Peter Strick says a new map of the motor cortex, out of Wash U, helps explain the brain's nuanced control of organs like the heart, as well as neural connections that link movement with emotions. Learn More

Tuesday, April 4, 2023
KDKA: Pitt leads study on ketamine for depression

Rebecca Price finds that small infusions of ketamine, more frequently used as an anesthetic, appear to create "a burst of plasticity in the brain."   Learn More

Monday, April 3, 2023
Sahel to receive Max Planck Society award for translational neuroscience

José-Alain Sahel's work spans stem cell implantation, gene therapy, innovative pharmacologic approaches, optogenetics, and an artificial retina to treat vision impairments. Learn More

Friday, March 24, 2023
NPR: Profile of 'glass half-full' teen in Pitt brain plasticity study

Pitt's Marlene Behrmann and colleagues found that, while half a child's brain can't fully replicate an intact one, hemispherectomy patients can still recognize faces and words. Learn More

Tuesday, February 21, 2023
How do patients and families react to an Alzheimer's diagnosis?

Jennifer Lingler leads a $2.1 million NIH-funded study on the psychological and social impact of learning that you or a family member with memory problems has biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease.   Learn More

Monday, February 20, 2023
NPR: Stroke patients regain control of arms and hands years later

In Nature Medicine, a Pitt team shows how electrical stimulation allows a paralyzed patient to open and close her hand, lift her arm above her head and handle a fork, a decade after her stroke.   Learn More

Friday, February 17, 2023
WoodNext awards $14M to study links between dementia and heart disease

One research group will identify specific proteins that drive neurodegeneration and develop an algorithm to predict risk of dementia based on genetic and clinical parameters. Learn More

Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Tracy Cui inducted into National Academy of Inventors

Her research focuses on neural engineering, drug delivery in the central nervous system, and biosensors. Four of her patents have been licensed.   Learn More

Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Neural recordings over a week tap into shifts in brain state

Avniel Ghuman says patterns of brain activity appear to hover “on the edge of order and disorder...This may be an optimal place for the brain to be.” Learn More

Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Concussion treatment let director make Oscar-nominated movie

Micky Collins has an even more packed patient schedule after Sarah Polley's memoir, “Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations With a Body of Memory.”   Learn More

Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Voice and face recognition rely on the same brain area

The fusiform gyrus, which processes visual cues, also becomes active when you hear a familiar voice, Taylor Abel and colleagues report in the Journal of Neurophysiology.   Learn More

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