Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
It is well established that brain development looks different for individuals with Down syndrome, but how early do these differences appear?
A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists has developed the first 3D-printed brain tissue that can grow and function like typical brain tissue.
There is no one “typical” type of researcher clinician. There are differences in training, percentage of focus on research vs clinic, and type of research done. Many also carry teaching and administrative responsibilities on top of their already demanding positions.
Researchers a have identified a protein key to the development of a type of brain cell believed to play a role in disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and used the discovery to grow the neurons from stem cells for the first time.
In a lab near UW Hospital, Megan Jandy grows stem cells from people with Down syndrome — 10 batches of cells, most in three-dimensional clusters, each batch featuring one group with the extra chromosome that causes the disorder and one group without it.
Multiple discoveries born from the minds and hard work of Waisman Center investigators have left the nest to become successful companies or products that have had a significant impact in the world through translational research.
When Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, picked up the phone to answer a call in 2001, he could barely understand the man speaking on the other line. “I could not hear his voice clearly,” says Zhang, a Waisman investigator and professor of neuroscience and neurology. It turns out that the man, who was calling from Texas, was on a ventilator which was garbling his voice.
Retinal cells grown from stem cells can reach out and connect with neighbors, according to a new UW study, completing a “handshake” that may show the cells are ready for trials in humans with degenerative eye disorders.
Today, many researchers are using brain organoids – miniaturized and simplified versions of organs produced in a dish typically from stem cells – as analogs for studying the development of the human brain.
