Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Waisman Center investigator Seth Pollak’s research was recently highlighted in the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology magazine. You can read the full story here.
Waisman Center investigator John Svaren collaborated with Ian Duncan, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and others on a study that offers new insight into a rare human disease, called H-ABC, which can affect many parts of the brain and can lead to severe neurologic dysfunction. You can read more about …
Waisman Center investigator Seth Pollak was recently interviewed by the BOLD Blog on Learning and Development. In the interview, Pollak discusses how chronic stress in early childhood shapes the brain. You can read the full interview here. Pollack is also the College of Letters and Science Distinguished Professor of Psychology and a professor of pediatrics, …
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 …
Children who face severe adversity, such as physical abuse, early in life often develop behavioral and emotional problems. But the underlying psychological mechanisms that link early adversity with negative outcomes have remained unclear. A new study, published in February in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, by researchers from several institutions, including the Waisman …
Waisman researcher Edward Hubbard likes to tell a story about burgers. In the early 1980s, A&W Restaurants introduced a new burger that had a third of a pound of beef. This burger was supposed to compete with MacDonald’s quarter-pound burger and because both burgers were priced the same, A&W executives expected their bigger burger to …
Leaders of the University of Wisconsin–Madison lab that first transformed human stem cells into brain cells have started a company that produces and sells specialized neurons to drug researchers. BrainXell develops neurons from stem cells in its Madison lab, then freezes them for shipment. Once thawed in the customer’s lab, the cells undergo a final …
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have found a switch that redirects helper cells in the peripheral nervous system into “repair” mode, a form that restores damaged axons. Axons are long fibers on neurons that transmit nerve impulses. The peripheral nervous system, the signaling network outside the brain and spinal cord, has some ability to …
Every day, Waisman Center researcher John Svaren deals with nerves – peripheral nerves, that is. Peripheral nerves connect the brain and spinal cord to our limbs and organs, serving as vital communication relays that allow us to sense and respond to the world around us. “These nerves are really interesting because they contain some of …
The environments children are in, including how much and what kinds of stimulation they are exposed to, influence what and how they learn. One important task for children is zeroing in on the information that’s relevant to what they’re learning and ignoring what isn’t. A new study has found that the presence of background noise …
