Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
At a Glance: A map of early brain development that captures its major drivers and their dynamics through time has been developed by Waisman Center investigators. Compiling different brain regions across three different species including humans, the new blueprint can identify the upstream regulators of brain development, evolution, and disorder risk, revealing how highly complex …
The human genome has many short tandem repeats, yet the normal functions of these repeats are unclear.
Two well-established measures of how well a child is understood by others, previously believed to capture the same thing, are not well correlated in typically developing children when accounting for age, a new Waisman Center study shows.
The FDA approved Zanvastro, the first drug to treat Alexander Disease, a breakthrough that wouldn’t have been possible without research at the Waisman Center. By Addison Dama for The Daily Cardinal October 8, 2026 | 2:00am CDT The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zanvastro, the first injectable treatment for Alexander Disease, on Sept. 3. …
At a Glance: Developing treatments for rare genetic disorders, such as Rett syndrome, is notoriously difficult, often requiring years of research and significant financial investment. Researchers at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed a new drug screening platform for Rett syndrome that could help accelerate the search for potential therapies while uncovering new …
by Teresa Palumbo Dan Bier, former associate director of the Waisman Center and University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, passed away on October 3. He was 78. For more than four decades, Dan worked to bridge research, services, training, and advocacy to improve the daily lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and …
Rowley, who managed the Waisman Center website for 30 years, retired this July, but not before ensuring the website was set up for its most recent update.
Identifying the cells connected with Alzheimer’s symptoms could result in new treatments for the disease. By Emily Leclerc and Charlene N. Rivera-Bonet Alzheimer’s disease is complex, presenting and progressing in so many different ways in individual patients that it’s difficult for scientists to study. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed AI-driven bioinformatics …
The study highlights associations between neighborhood disadvantage and an MRI measure of myelin maturation, a marker of brain development, across infancy and childhood.
A new Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison study has identified a critical regulator of this early process of cell fate called FXR1, a protein that binds RNA to regulate the abundance of key genes.
