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.
News
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.
New initiative to study Parkinson disease
Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, the Steenbock Professor in Behavioral and Neural Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Waisman Center investigator, is part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers selected by the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative to receive $9 million over three years for the “Parkinson5D: Deconstructing Proximal Disease Mechanisms Across Cells, Space and Progression” or PD5D project.
Waisman Biomanufacturing partners with GigaGen to manufacture new COVID-19 drug
Waisman Biomanufacturing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison will begin manufacturing a new drug to treat and prevent COVID-19, developed by California-based biotech company GigaGen. The drug, called GIGA-2050, uses a new approach similar to treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma, or blood products from people recovering (convalescing) from an infection. Waisman Biomanufacturing was created to facilitate just this sort of development and testing of new types of drugs.
Inside Waisman: Meet Lindsay McCary
As a third year graduate student in school psychology at the University of South Carolina, Lindsay McCary, PhD, was looking for a new advisor to help her with her dissertation.
Friends present staff, students and family awards
The Friends of the Waisman hosts this annual event for members of the Friends organization; community supporters of the Waisman Center; and Waisman Center faculty, staff, and students. The 2020 Awards were presented at a virtual meeting on August 18 2020.
Running toward renewal: new study links physical activity with cognitive health
Research has shown voluntary running is an activity most commonly associated with the reversal of negative impacts of aging and neurodegeneration, but little is understood about why that is.
UW researchers devise approach to treat rare, incurable form of blindness
Waisman Center investigator David Gamm, MD, PhD, and Waisman affiliate Kris Saha, PhD, have published a proof-of-concept method to correct Best disease – an inherited form of macular degeneration that causes blindness, and that is …
Waisman Biomanufacturing partners with Heat Biologics to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine
Waisman Biomanufacturing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is partnering with Heat Biologics to produce a COVID-19 vaccine for phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials. Phase 1 trials could begin in early 2021 and UW–Madison may be a trial site.
The ECHO effect
Project ECHO (the mantra for which is “All teach, all learn”) uses video-conferencing technology to provide education and case consultation on best practice clinical services, training, and resources for individuals with specific healthcare needs that are difficult to meet locally. The Waisman Center ECHO platform will serve as a diagnostic and treatment training hub to share the center’s expertise on intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as autism, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy, throughout the state and beyond.