Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
This is a story of nature and nurture. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Waisman Center have shown one way in which human genetics and chronic stress interact to shape health and well-being later in life. According to the study, published recently (April 13) in the American Journal of Medical Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, individuals who …
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have made a surprising and potentially crucial discovery about Alexander disease, a rare and fatal neurological disorder with no known cure. Using a mouse model for this disease, which in humans involves the destruction of white matter in the brain, a research team led by Albee Messing, director of …
Applying a dramatically improved method for "editing" genes to human stem cells, University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientist and Waisman Center investigator Su-Chun Zhang has shown a new way to silence genes in stem cells and their progeny at any stage of development.
Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited intellectual disability and the greatest single genetic contributor to autism. Unlocking the mechanisms behind fragile X could make important revelations about the brain.
May is ALS awareness month and Waisman Center investigator Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, uses stem cells from ALS patients to uncover the cause of ALS and screen drugs to treat the disease. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control muscle movement. …
This story starts in 1955, upon the death of Albert Einstein, when the pathologist charged with performing the famous scientist’s autopsy stole his brain. Fast forward to the 1980s when a University of California, Berkeley scientist was studying parts of the stolen goods involved in complex thinking and discovered that the father of relativity had more of certain types of cells, called astrocytes, than other human brains studied.
A rare disease can be isolating when few people have it and there is no cure.
The link between a protein typically associated with Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on memory and cognition may not be as clear as once thought, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Waisman Center. The findings are revealing more information about the earliest stages of the neurodegenerative disease. The researchers — including …
If you hadn’t heard of ALS before this summer, you’re not alone. If you haven’t heard of it by now, you must be living under a rock. Not only did the ubiquitous ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raise about $100 million from late July to late August, it boosted awareness of ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
By studying nerve cells that originated in patients with a severe neurological disease, a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher has pinpointed an error in protein formation that could be the root of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
