Neuroscience

The ability to target and stimulate neurons brings a host of benefits including better understanding brain function and treating neurological diseases. Currently, state-of-the-art microelectrode arrays (MEAs) can stimulate neurons with high precision, but they lack cell-type specificity and require invasive implantation that can result in tissue damage—think stimulators used to help patients with tremors. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Tzahi Cohen-Karni, PhD, associate professor of materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and his team have been exploring new materials to allow remote photostimulation, or the use of light to stimulate cells. Read More

Often inaccurately hyped up as the “pleasure molecule,” dopamine is implicated more in “pursuing” than producing pleasure, explains Rabeea Saleem in her article for The National. For example, if you enjoy a sugar rush, dopamine is responsible for motivating you to seek a cupcake to satisfy your cravings, rather than the actual rush. She spoke with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Zachary Freyberg, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Cell Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, for her article. Read More

A person suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) endures the progressive loss of muscle function throughout their body. Eventually, they lose the ability to control their limbs, to swallow, and even to speak. Their inability to communicate becomes a particularly devastating symptom of the illness. Other diseases can cause similar, debilitating impairment. Read More

Most able-bodied people take their ability to perform simple daily tasks for granted—when they reach for a warm mug of coffee, they can feel its weight and temperature and adjust their grip accordingly so that no liquid is spilled. People with full sensory and motor control of their arms and hands can feel that they’ve made contact with an object the instant they touch or grasp it, allowing them to start moving or lifting it with confidence. Read More

It is not every day that scientists come across a phenomenon so fundamental that it is observed across fruit flies, rodents, and humans. Read More

The path for women in STEM fields has historically been fraught with obstacles that their male counterparts may not have had to face. The path is a bit clearer today thanks to the women who walked it before: Women like Rachel Carson, the marine biologist and environmentalist; Katherine Johnson, the space scientist who made the Apollo 11 flight possible; and Edith Clarke, the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the U.S. Read More

A neural interface — or brain-computer interface — is a device that uses electrical stimulation to induce changes in brain activity. Among other applications, its positive effects are being leveraged to rehabilitate neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease. Read More

A blood protein test could detect the severity of head trauma in under 15 minutes, according to research published recently in the Journal of Neurotrauma. Read More

Imagine tying your shoes or taking a sip of coffee or cracking an egg but without any feeling in your hand. That’s life for users of even the most advanced prosthetic arms. Read More

Fetal obstructive hydrocephalus causes permanent brain damage due to increased intracerebral pressure. Because of obstruction of the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), CSF accumulates within the cerebral ventricles, causing increased intracerebral pressure, which leads to decreased blood flow, as well as damage from stretch of neurons. In-utero relief of increased intracerebral pressure may result in normal brain development, thereby preventing lifelong disability. Read More

Using electrodes smaller than a human hair, researchers are able to connect mind to machine and interact with the human brain in revolutionary ways. Brain-computer interfaces have helped rehabilitate neurodegenerative diseases and restore function to individuals with brain damage. This cutting-edge technology, however, comes with complications. Read More

Some of the most challenging medical conditions are acute brain injury and progressive neurodegenerative disease.  Aiming to examine these issues, Frontiers in Neuroscience recently published the review article entitled “Bioscaffold-Induced Brain Tissue Regeneration” by Michel Modo, PhD, Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh with secondary appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition. Read More

The brain is a complex organ full of neurons that work together to help us move, feel, think, and more. A multidisciplinary group from the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is working to expand the amount of information researchers can receive from a neural interface device and received two grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their collaborative effort. Read More

A microelectrode array (MEA) is an implantable device through which neural signals can be obtained or delivered. It is an invaluable tool in neuroscience research and is critical to advancements in brain-computer interface (BCI) research, which has progressed to allow humans to operate robotic devices with their minds. Read More

Researchers of Sechenov University and University of Pittsburgh—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member and Duquesne University professor John Pollock, PhD, and his team aim to develop an app to improve mental health.  As reported by Kellen Stepler, staff writer for The Duquesne Duke, the app’s objective is to help pre-teens develop coping skills to manage stress and anxiety. A 2019 report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims that the teen suicide rate has reached its highest level in nearly two decades. Read More

Mastering a new skill – whether a sport, an instrument, or a craft – takes time and training. While it is understood that a healthy brain is capable of learning these new skills, how the brain changes in order to develop new behaviors is a relative mystery. More precise knowledge of this underlying neural circuitry may eventually improve the quality of life for individuals who have suffered brain injury by enabling them to more easily relearn everyday tasks. Read More

In a recently published paper, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Universitat de les Illes Balears, and University of South Carolina along with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Jonathan Rubin, PhD, professor and chairman in the Department of Mathematics and an adjunct with the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh, shed light on how specific circuits in the brain can simultaneously make decisions and learn from their outcomes. Read More

Researchers have made groundbreaking strides in brain-computer interface (BCI) research, allowing paralyzed individuals to connect mind to machine and control robotic devices with their brains. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to tap into this breakthrough technology and develop a nonsurgical option that provides a new way for able-bodied individuals to interact with machines. Read More

Responsive neurostimulation (RNS) treats epilepsy by detecting seizures and intervening with a jolt of electric current. Over time, most patients find their seizures become fewer and further between. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member R. Mark Richardson, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurological surgery at Pitt’s School of Medicine and director of epilepsy and movement disorders surgery at UPMC—have a better understanding of why this happens. Read More

Neural stimulation is a developing technology that has beneficial therapeutic effects in neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease. While many advancements have been made, the implanted devices deteriorate over time and cause scarring in neural tissue. In a recently published paper, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Takashi Kozai, PhD, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, detailed a less invasive method of stimulation that would use an untethered, ultra-small electrode activated by light, a technique that may mitigate damage done by current methods. Read More

Electrical stimulation of the brain is common practice in neuroscience research and is an increasingly common and effective clinical therapy for a variety of neurological disorders. However, there is limited understanding of why this treatment works at the neural level.  A paper published by McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Takashi Kozai, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, addresses gaps in knowledge over the activation and inactivation of neural elements that affect the desired responses to neuromodulation. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Robert Bowser, PhD— Chairman of Neurobiology and a Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology at the Barrow Neurological Institute and St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Director of the Gregory W. Fulton ALS and Neuromuscular Research Center at Barrow—is a co-principal investigator on one of seven research partnerships between Arizona biomedical scientists and clinicians that are being funded through a Flinn Foundation program to advance the state’s growing niche in precisiook sn medicine. Read More

A hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s is the progressive death of nerve cells in the brain. The cells don’t die quickly, though. They first start to disconnect from each other because their neurites — long finger-like extensions that make connections all through the brain — become smaller. Read More

Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases, announced dosing of the first patient in RESTORE-1, a Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of VY-AADC for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in patients with motor fluctuations that are refractory to medical management. Read More

Raffi Khatchadourian is a staff writer at The New Yorker.  In preparing his article, “Degrees of Freedom,” Mr. Khatchadourian interviewed McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Andrew Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh, and several of Dr. Schwartz’s clinical colleagues and their patients. Read More

A team of University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers was recently awarded two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling over $8 million to expand their groundbreaking brain computer interface (BCI) research in collaboration with researchers at the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University. Read More

Implantation of a stent-like flow diverter can offer one option for less invasive treatment of brain aneurysms – bulges in blood vessels – but the procedure requires frequent monitoring while the vessels heal. Now, a multi-university research team—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members Youngjae Chun, PhD, associate professor, industrial engineering and bioengineering, and William Wagner, PhD, director of the McGowan Institute and professor of surgery, bioengineering and chemical engineering —has demonstrated proof-of-concept for a highly flexible and stretchable sensor that could be integrated with the flow diverter to monitor hemodynamics in a blood vessel without costly diagnostic procedures. Read More

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) at UPMC has proven to be an effective treatment for involuntary movements associated with Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, such as tremors, slowness of movement, rigidity, and problems with walking and balance. DBS is also approved for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) treatment under a Humanitarian Device Exemption. Read More

The research, published recently in Nature Neuroscience (DOI: 10.1038/s41593-018-0095-3), examined the changes that take place in the brain when learning a new task. To truly see how neural activity changes during learning, we need to look bigger—at populations of neurons, rather than one neuron at a time, which has been the standard approach to date. Read More

For people living with attention deficit disorder, their struggles are not a matter of refusing to pay attention for a long period of time. Read More

Our tactile senses keep us aware of our environment and are essential for the execution of natural movement. Though there have been many advances in modern prosthetic devices, the loss of sensory feedback remains an issue, and many amputees struggle with everyday movement. Lack of sensory feedback in transtibial (below-knee) amputation means that the prosthesis user must rely on their residual limb for all motor skills. Patients suffer with problems in balance control, risk of falling, and severe phantom limb pain. A University of Pittsburgh group seeks to address this need for sensory feedback in prosthetic devices. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine faculty member Andrew Schwartz, PhD—Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh with adjunct appointments at the Center for Neural Basis Cognition (a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University), at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and at Pitt’s Department of Bioengineering and its Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation—recently participated in MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Technology Review’s 17^th Annual EmTech where this year’s most significant news on emerging technologies was examined.  Dr. Schwartz’s session featured “For Brain-Computer Interfaces to Be Useful, They’ll Need to Be Wireless.” Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh have been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study diverse aspects of how the brain works. Read More

Recently, a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of severe neurological diseases began with its first patient with McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Mark Richardson, MD, PhD, Director of Epilepsy and Movement Disorders Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an investigator in the trial, performing the surgical delivery approach.  The trial by Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing life-changing treatments for severe neurological diseases, aims to further optimize the surgical delivery of VY-AADC01 for advanced Parkinson’s disease. Read More

New research from Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering and the University of Pittsburgh reveals that motor cortical neurons optimally adjust how they encode movements in a task-specific manner. The findings enhance our understanding of how the brain controls movement and have the potential to improve the performance and reliability of brain-machine interfaces, or neural prosthetics, that assist paralyzed patients and amputees.  McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Andrew Schwartz, PhD, distinguished professor of neurobiology and chair in systems neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a member of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, is a co-author on the study. Read More

McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member David Okonkwo, MD, PhD, Professor and Executive Vice Chair of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, recently was consulted on a very rare canine neurosurgery case.  The patient was a 5½ -year-old, female Leonberger named Anchor who underwent spinal surgery at Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.  Anchor holds expert status in water rescue. Read More

A significant grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help to fund advanced brain research at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC focused on deeper understanding of how speech is controlled in the brain. The research team will study patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) while they undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. Read More

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine—including McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Charleen Chu, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she holds the A. Julio Martinez Chair in Neuropathology—have uncovered a major reason why the Parkinson’s-related protein alpha-synuclein, a major constituent of the Lewy bodies that are the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD), is toxic to neurons in the brain. The finding has the potential to lead to new therapies that could slow or stop progression of the devastating illness. The new research appears online in Science Translational Medicine. Read More

It is only in the last decade that deep brain stimulation (DBS) technology was refined and widely accepted as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders, according to McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member Mark Richardson, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh and the Director, Brain Modulation Laboratory, and the Director, Epilepsy and Movement Disorders Surgery Program, both in the Department of Neurological Surgery. Read More