News

Wednesday, July 13, 2016
KDKA-TV: Man with OCD on life after deep-brain stimulation

Neurosurgeon Mark Richardson, MD, PhD, and psychiatrist Robert Hudak, MD, have teamed to offer DBS to patients with the most severe cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Learn More

Tuesday, July 12, 2016
PEOPLE Magazine: Grandparents win lottery, fund Pitt research on Krabbe disease

Maria Escolar, MD, founder of the Program for the Study of Neurodevelopment in Rare Disorders at Children’s Hospital, heads a promising gene-therapy project for the incurable hereditary disease.  Learn More

Friday, July 8, 2016
"Reading" the mind of a person who's reading

Avniel Ghuman, PhD, talks about new evidence for Charcot's hypothesis that a specific brain area is a center for visual memory of words. The study was published in PNAS. Learn More

Tuesday, June 28, 2016
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Help for middle-of-the-night insomnia

Some doctors forbid TV-watching if you wake up at 1 a.m., but Daniel J. Buysse, MD, is less rigid. “Don’t sit 2 inches away from the TV. And wear sunglasses,” he says. Learn More

Monday, June 27, 2016
UPMC among three in nation to use next-generation bloodless brain surgery

The new gamma knife destroys brain tumors and vascular malformations once considered inoperable, and can be used to treat vascular brain disease and facial nerve pain. Learn More

Friday, June 24, 2016
SCIENCE News: Past exposure to dengue may worsen effects of Zika virus

Data about the correlation are persuasive, says Ernesto Marques, MD, PhD, but he cautions that antibodies to dengue are not essential to cause Zika-related brain damage in infants. Learn More

Tuesday, June 21, 2016
PNAS study suggests neural target to treat reading disorders

Watch two volunteers struggle to read words when signals are disrupted to a critical part of the brain -- the left midfusiform gyrus. Learn More

Friday, June 17, 2016
SCIENCE Editorial: On Jeremy Berg as new editor-in-chief

Berg's "distinguished background, .. passion for data-driven analysis of science policy ...and enthusiasm about leading Science make (him) well suited for the job." Learn More

Thursday, June 16, 2016
Psychiatry team awarded $5M NIH grant to study effects of drug use on developing brain

Investigators will study children who haven't used drugs and then monitor them through adolescence, as their risk for substance abuse and other mental health disorders increases.  Learn More

Monday, June 13, 2016
TIME: Petition decrying Olympics in Brazil due to Zika virus "naive," says Pitt's Marques

For one thing, the summer games occur during Brazil's winter, says Ernesto Marques, MD, PhD, of the Center for Vaccine Research. The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to severe brain damage. Learn More

Friday, June 10, 2016
Urban tapped to head NIH study section

Neurobiologist Nathan Urban, PhD, will chair NIH's Somatosensory and Chemosensory Systems Study Section for the Center for Scientific Review.  His term starts July 1. Learn More

Wednesday, June 8, 2016
PIND scientists find why alpha-synuclein is key in Parkinson’s disease

A team in the Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases shows how the pathological protein disrupts mitochondrial function, leading to low energy production and damaging cellular waste. Learn More

Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Libertus receives Ritvo Innovation in Autism research award

Klaus Libertus, PhD, of the Learning Research and Development Center will observe motor development of infants in families with a history of autism to see if they are behind in  skills. Learn More

Monday, June 6, 2016
Cameron, Siegle win top awards in NSF-funded commercialization competition

Judy Cameron, PhD, got top honors for lay training to help children reach developmental milestones on time; Greg Siegle, PhD, won for a wearable sensor and stimulator for self-control of stress. Learn More

Sunday, June 5, 2016
NPR's Weekend Edition: Needleman's lifelong crusade to save children from lead poisoning

The good news: Lead levels in young children have dropped by more than 90 percent since the 1970s, when Herbert Needleman, MD, published his early research. But that's not enough. Learn More

Friday, June 3, 2016
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pitt, UPMC and CMU team up on drug study for brain injuries

Researchers will expose a matrix of cells to specific forces, and then test the effectiveness of various drugs in restoring normal cellular function or protecting cells from injury. Learn More

Wednesday, June 1, 2016
O'Hara swim club to host benefit for Live Like Lou Center for ALS Research

The event at Community Swim Club on Saturday, June 4, is supported by other local clubs, including Chapel Gate Swim Club, Fox Chapel Golf Club, Pittsburgh Field Club and Fox Chapel Racquet Club. Learn More

Tuesday, May 31, 2016
PITTMED cover story: Neurodegeneration experts hone in on mitochondria malfunction

Tim Greenamyre, MD, PhD, and colleagues are getting closer to potential new therapies and drugs for diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's.   Learn More

Sunday, May 29, 2016
How Pittsburgh Compound B may detect future risk of Alzheimer's

PET imaging to spot the biomarker has promise both for early detection and for sorting out dementia that isn't Alzheimer's, says Ann D. Cohen, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry. Learn More

Thursday, May 26, 2016
Vice chancellor Jeremy Berg named editor of SCIENCE

Science's new top editor is Jeremy Berg, PhD, associate senior vice chancellor for science strategy and planning in health sciences. Berg will serve a five-year term as editor-in-chief. Learn More

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