Imagine that you’ve been dropped into an unfamiliar country. People are speaking all around you. But you don’t recognize the sounds or objects surrounding you. You don’t even hear words; all the sounds are mushed together. It is very confusing.
2015
Down syndrome research and services at the Waisman Center
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day, designated on this date to signify the cause of Down syndrome—the presence of a third 21st chromosome (3/21). Approximately one in every 691 babies is born with Down …
Waisman Center art featured at campus exhibit
Katie Sweeney, Waisman Center Communications The McPherson Eye Research Institute unveiled its new exhibit, Seeing Beyond Disabilities: Unique Insights, on January 29 in the Mandelbaum and Albert Vision Gallery at the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research. The exhibit features …
Gamm’s research aims to treat blinding diseases
Inherited and acquired degenerative diseases of the retina are a significant cause of incurable vision loss worldwide. David Gamm, MD, PhD, utilizes stem cell technology to test ways to preserve or restore vision in people …
Waisman Center investigator Ruth Litovsky, PhD named a Fulbright Scholar
Ruth Litovsky, PhD, a Waisman Center investigator and professor of communication sciences and disorders, is a 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar for the East-Asia Pacific Region. Litovsky is an internationally-recognized expert on auditory perception — how the brain processes sound to enable people to hear and communicate in noisy environments.
Autism study finds genetic mutation poor indicator
David Wargowski, MD, a clinical geneticist in the Waisman Center Medical Genetics Clinic, discusses a new autism study in the journal Nature that examines the genetic variance of family members with an autism spectrum disorder.
Laying a foundation for treating ALS, spinal cord injury
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.
Hearing research at the Waisman Center
More than 278 million people are affected by hearing loss caused by damaged hair cells in the inner ear that process sound to the brain. Waisman Center scientists work to research novel treatments and therapies for individuals with hearing loss that include stem cell research and cochlear implants.
Living lab introduces the public to research on campus
Subtle interactions that demonstrate power, both verbal and nonverbal, take place in a child’s environment every day, and one UW researcher wants to know if children are actually paying attention. Through scripted scenarios geared to …
Autism symptoms often missed in brief clinical appointments
MADISON–In the current issue of Pediatrics, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison clinical psychologist Megan Farley and colleagues share important insights in the paper “Identifying autism in a brief observation,” which examines how brief clinical appointments …