By Adityarup “Rup” Chakravorty Say you are shown an apple, a banana and a fruit you have never seen before. Then you are asked to pick the “pifo.” Which fruit would you choose? Chances are …
Research
Moving forward in the search for genetic clues to understand autism
There’s a saying in the autism community: If you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism. That’s because “as the name implies, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exists on a …
Ebola Vaccine Inches Toward Human Clinical Trials
A whole-virus vaccine to confront Ebola, the rare but often fatal hemorrhagic disease that periodically erupts in sub-Saharan Africa, may soon be one step closer to the clinic. With the help of experts at Waisman …
NBC15 highlights Rett syndrome and Waisman Center research
NBC15’s Morning Show and reporter Kalie Greenberg shared a story about Laurel Cooper, a 9-year-old girl who has Rett syndrome, and her family. Rett syndrome is a rare, non-inherited neurological disorder that mostly affects girls …
Progress made toward treatment for rare, fatal neurological disease
After more than a decade of work, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Waisman Center reported promising results in the lab and in animal models that could set the stage for developing a treatment for Alexander disease, a rare and usually fatal neurological disease with no known cure.
Childhood stress and life risks
Adults who lived high-stress childhoods have trouble reading the signs that a loss or punishment is looming, leaving themselves in situations that risk avoidable health and financial problems and legal trouble.
Mining the cerebellum for its role in speech
“We found that the folks with cerebellar damage responded to these unpredictable changes to a larger extent than those without any damage,” says Parrell. “It was totally unexpected.”
New Faculty Focus: Lauren Bishop-Fitzpatrick
A Q&A with new Waisman Center investigator Lauren Bishop-Fitzpatrick. How did you get into your field of research? Like many people who pursue social work degrees, I always knew that I wanted to spend my career …
The chatter within our cells
Waisman Center investigator Luigi Puglielli had trouble with only one class in medical school: biochemistry. Yet today he uses biochemical approaches to study some of the vital molecular mechanisms that regulate brain physiology and pathology …
Madison County girl hopes to help unlock cure of rare disease
Waisman Center Director, Albee Messing, is collaborating with researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to better understand the progression of Alexander disease, a rare and fatal neurological disorder with no known cure. In …