Rett syndrome (RTT) is a severe X chromosome-linked debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder caused by mutations in the MECP2 gene affects 1 in 10,000-15,000 girls with no effective treatment. Our lab has been using RTT induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and neurons and astrocytes differentiated from iPSC as a platform to understand RTT disease mechanisms and develop treatment.
Remembering Ludell Swenson
A peek into a collection of newspaper clippings about Ludell Swenson reveals the life of an extraordinarily accomplished person: marathoner, competitive tournament bowler, outspoken social services advocate. But what stands out the most is his …
Sriram Boothalingam, PhD – Slide of the Week
This study describes a time series-based method of middle ear muscle reflex (MEMR) detection using bilateral clicks, with implications for otoacoustic emission (OAE)-based medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) assays. Although current click-based methods can detect changes in the OAE evoking stimulus to monitor the MEMR, these methods do not discriminate between true MEMR-mediated vs. artifactual changes in the stimulus.
New Innovator Award winner looking for unprecedented view of the brain
Congratulations to Aviad Hai, assistant professor of biomedical engineering and a Waisman affiliate, on being selected as a 2020 National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award.
The sound beneath the waves
If you’ve ever seen a graphical representation of a sound, you are probably familiar with what it looks like: hundreds of steep, tightly packed peaks and valleys, all of different heights, moving above and below a common line of symmetry that cuts horizontally through the middle. “When a sound travels through the air, it basically sets the molecules around us in motion, using sound pressure to create sort of a wave,” says Waisman researcher Michaela Warnecke, PhD.
Peter Ferrazzano named Weygandt Professor
Waisman investigator, Peter Ferrazzano, MD, has been named the first recipient of the Enid and Jerry Weygandt Professorship in Pediatric Critical Care. Ferrazzano, a Waisman investigator, leads the UW Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine which …
Lauren Bishop, PhD – Slide of the Week
Although epilepsy commonly presents with autism in children, it is currently unknown whether established estimates represent the prevalence and incidence of epilepsy in autistic adults. Our objective was to use population-level Medicaid data to determine prevalence, incidence, and antiepileptic drug use associated with epilepsy in a unique population of autistic adults aged 21+ with (N=2,738) and without (N=4,775) intellectual disability and to compare results to adults with intellectual disability alone (N=18,429).
Barbara Bendlin, PhD – Slide of the Week
In Alzheimer’s disease (AD), neurodegenerative processes are ongoing for years prior to the time that cortical atrophy can be reliably detected using conventional neuroimaging techniques. Recent advances in diffusion-weighted imaging have provided new techniques to study neural microstructure, which may provide additional information regarding neurodegeneration.
Stem cells can repair Parkinson’s-damaged circuits in mouse brains
The mature brain is infamously bad at repairing itself following damage like that caused by trauma or strokes, or from degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Stem cells, which are endlessly adaptable, have offered the promise of better neural repair. But the brain’s precisely tuned complexity has stymied the development of clinical treatments.
Karla Ausderau, PhD – Slide of the Week
Examine healthcare usage, pharmacy prescriptions and healthcare cost among people with Intellectual Disability in Wisconsin who participate in Special Olympics compared to people with Intellectual Disability who do not participate in Special Olympics. In addition, a sub-analysis was completed to compare Special Olympics athletes who participated in the Healthy Athlete program to those who had not.