News

In the lab where sign language advances science: A spotlight on Phu Duong

By Emily Leclerc, Waisman Science Writer Epigenetics – the study of how environment can change and affect how genes function – was a new field for Phu Duong, PhD. Previously he had briefly studied electrophysiology. …

The Waisman TIES Clinic, a psychiatry clinic that looks at disability and mental health through a holistic lens

Community TIES (Training, Intervention, and Evaluation Services) is a UW-Waisman Center behavioral support program that serves residents of Dane County with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

In remembrance of Don Anderson

The Waisman Center community is saddened by the passing of Don Anderson, MSSW, in March 3, 2023. Anderson was a clinical assistant professor in the UW-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work and the Waisman Center from 1974 to 2004.

The CDC’s Autism Surveillance Network Continues to Show an Increase in Autism Prevalence

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the most recent numbers from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network (ADDM) that shows an increase in autism prevalence and shifting demographics for diagnosis. The CDC …

Women’s History Month: Celebrating the Women of Waisman | Infographic

For Women’s History Month we are celebrating all of the women of Waisman who are advancing knowledge of intellectual and developmental disabilities and providing cutting-edge clinical care.

Newborn Screening Program on UW–Madison campus helps millions

Since 1978, more than 2.5 million Wisconsin babies have been touched by the University of Wisconsin–Madison within their first few days of being born.

Hope for Failing Eyes

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.

Let’s talk numbers: Epidemiology of intellectual and developmental disabilities research at the Waisman Center

In 2001, newborn screening of Hmong babies had an alarming number of positive results for an enzyme deficiency called MBADD.

From brain stimulation to speech and language interventions, Waisman researchers are making strides to better understand and treat individuals with cerebral palsy

More than 10,000 children are born each year with cerebral palsy (CP) making it the most common motor disability in childhood.

The Waisman Center’s comprehensive care and strides toward early interventions for children with cerebral palsy: Clinics and outreach

The clinics and the research laboratories of the Waisman Center intertwine to care for individuals with cerebral palsy. The mission is one: to improve the outcomes for individuals with cerebral palsy.

Resilience doesn’t equate to positive outcomes for individuals who have experienced early childhood maltreatment

Early childhood maltreatment can have long lasting effects that follow a person into adulthood.

Alexander disease: A lifetime’s work in the hope of saving lives

Messing wanted to study if the overexpression of GFAP resulted in a certain reactive response in the brain.

New Machine Learning Tool Helps Researchers Demonstrate Effectiveness of Stem Cell Based Models

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.

Ruth Litovsky featured on “Conversation with a Colleague”

A college degree may protect against neurodegeneration in genetically at-risk populations

Obtaining a college degree may be protective against neurodegenerative symptoms in women with an elevated genetic risk.

David Gamm works to bring research and medicine into a single vision

David Gamm is adept at keeping multiple things in focus. Gamm, MD, PhD, is a Waisman investigator, director of the McPherson Eye Research Institute, and professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences. With one eye trained on patients, he treats children in the pediatric ophthalmology clinic.

The sound of the Waisman Center’s work to improve cochlear implants

The Waisman Center has been at the forefront of research on cochlear implants and hearing science for more than two decades.

WIN for the win: Wellness Inclusion Nursing helps improve quality of life of individuals with disabilities through nursing consulting

WIN is a Waisman Center Community Outreach Wisconsin (COW) program with nurses that serve as consultants for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families, caregivers, residential and vocational team members, and health care providers.

Waisman Center welcomes new investigator with a focus on early language intervention work

Alper’s path to communication sciences was not straight forward. She initially started down the biotechnology path and sprinkled in some reproductive embryology research as well. It wasn’t until she started in a voice physiology lab seeking research with more direct human interaction that she found the path she wanted to be on.

Weight loss may be early predictor of Alzheimer’s disease in Down syndrome

Unintentional weight loss in people with Down syndrome may predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease long before typical cognitive symptoms like memory loss and dementia are apparent.

Kennedy’s other moon shot: The origins of intellectual and developmental disabilities research centers and the Waisman Center

When President Kennedy made his inaugural speech in 1961, there was no mention of initiatives on intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs). Yet, the efforts by his administration and the Kennedy family to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and their families are one of their most enduring legacies. The Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison bears the indelible fingerprints of those efforts.

Waisman postdoctoral training program: Training the next generation of IDD researchers

The first two years of the grant provided funding for two seminars in an academic year, but in a short span, seeing the tangible benefits these had, they expanded from two lectures a year, to two a month.

Waisman investigators receive grant to improve brain imaging in young children

A team of investigators at the Waisman Center was recently awarded a $2.5 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health to both improve brain imaging techniques for infants and build a quantitative atlas of typical early brain development.

Cómo Community TIES construye redes de apoyo para personas con discapacidades

English Por Emily Leclerc, Escritora Científica, Waisman Center Ella no se levanta del sofá. Ella se niega a moverse, eligiendo en cambio envolverse en mantas. No ha salido de casa en días. Shawn Bass sabe …

Serie Community TIES: Apoyando a las personas con discapacidades a través de la capacitación comunitaria

English Por Charlene N. Rivera Bonet, Escritora Científica, Waisman Center Con la boca bien abierta, habla lenta y pronunciación y cadencia exageradas, también conocido como lenguaje de ballenas, Josh Lapin, MSSW, director de Community TIES …

The beginning of full community inclusion: TIES supports individuals with disabilities inclusion in community since 1986

Around 1986, there was a paradigm shift across the country to bring individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) out of institutions and inclusively integrate them into the community.

El comienzo de la inclusión comunitaria total: TIES apoya la inclusión de personas con discapacidades en la comunidad desde el 1986

English Por Charlene N. Rivera Bonet, Escritora Científica, Waisman Center Alrededor del 1986, hubo un cambio de paradigma en todo el país para sacar a las personas con discapacidades intelectuales y del desarrollo (IDD, por …

Celebrating Carol and John’s ceaseless support of the Friends

During her time with the Friends board, Carol Palmer defined the meaning of an extraordinary board member through her leadership, dedication, and vision that helped elevate the board to new heights.

Lab-grown retinal eye cells make successful connections, open door for clinical trials to treat blindness

Retinal cells grown from stem cells can reach out and connect with neighbors, according to a new study, completing a “handshake” that may show the cells are ready for trials in humans with degenerative eye disorders.

New NIH grant to study language use as potential predictor of neurodegenerative disorder in FMR1 premutation carriers

A new study will investigate if language differences can predict the development of a neurodegenerative disorder in people that carry a premutation of the gene FMR1.

Waisman investigator receives award recognizing her outstanding mentorship of women scientists

Pelin Cengiz, MD, was recently awarded the 2022 Women’s Health Research Mentorship Award by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH) Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) and the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH).

Waisman investigator receives grant to study interventions to reduce racial biases in children

Waisman Center investigator Kristin Shutts, PhD was recently awarded a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study whether an intervention given by White parents to their kids would help reduce racial biases in young children.

Study shows differences between brains of primates — humans, apes and monkeys — are small but significant

While the physical differences between humans and non-human primates are quite distinct, a new study reveals their brains may be remarkably similar. And yet, the smallest changes may make big differences in developmental and psychiatric disorders.

Understanding recovery and development in children

Early interventions in children with cerebral palsy can be pivotal to improving motor and cognitive outcomes. The focus of this study is to longitudinally assess, over the first two years of life, the recovery and development of the infant brain after early stroke or brain bleed.

Better ears for better lives

Her child, who was born with congenital deafness, had received her first cochlear implant early enough to access spoken language, but with only one implant she had struggled with understanding speech in noisy environments or locating sounds.