Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Stem cells are remarkable cells that have the ability to become almost any kind of specialized cells in our bodies. Given this extraordinary potential, how does a stem cell keep from having an identity crisis? A recent study from Waisman Center researcher Xinyu Zhao’s lab shows how a gene called MBD1 plays an important role …
Title: Neural Distance Effects When Comparing Fractions and Line Ratios Legend: Left: Adult participants were asked to compare pairs of fractions (top), combinations of fractions and line ratios (middle) or pairs of line-ratios (bottom), while we recorded accuracy and reaction time (RT). Pairs were chosen so that some were “near” (i.e., similar, like 5/7 vs. …
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 …
Title: Family Context and Parenting Experiences in Autism Legend: Family context (having multiple children with special needs [Fig 1], household income [Fig 2], and parent level of broader autism phenotype [BAP; Fig 3] moderated spillover of a challenging parenting day on next-day couple experiences in parents of children with autism across a 14-day daily diary. Citation: …
We're delighted to share a video highlighting many of the strides we have made over the past year. Your generous and thoughtful contributions help us continue to pioneer research and expand clinical services that benefit individuals and families impacted by developmental disabilities and neurodegenerative diseases. Together we are transforming lives and building brighter futures—without you, it just wouldn’t be possible.
Diagnosed with autism when he was five years old, Giizhik learned to draw before he learned to speak. He poured his energy into turning the cartoons that fascinated him into a world of his own artwork. - See more at: http://www.waisman.wisc.edu/news2016-Holiday-Cards.htm#sthash.tjq3cpUt.dpuf
Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, often have significant delays with expanding their vocabularies and other language skills compared to typically developing children. Yet, “we know very little about [language] processing in [children with ASD] or the mechanisms underlying it,” says Susan Ellis Weismer, a professor of communication sciences and disorders at UW–Madison …
Title: Adolescent impulsivity and novelty seeking as differential predictors of relational and overt aggression Legend: Mother- and self-reported impulsivity during adolescence predict concurrent overt aggression reported by cotwins. This pattern remained the same when predicting relational aggression. Although impulsivity predicted both types of aggression, mother- and self-reported novelty seeking did not predict aggression of either …
Title: Interconversion of early VSX2WT and VSX2R200Q hiPSC-OV phenotypes by pharmacological manipulation of WNT signaling. Legend: Pharmacological manipulation of the WNT signaling pathway during in vitro retinogenesis in hiPSCs affects the cell fate decision between retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and retinal neurons (neuroretina). In wild type human iPS cells (hiPSCs), augmenting WNT signaling increases RPE …
Title: Suppression of microglia activation after hypoxia-ischemia results in age-dependent improvements in neurologic injury. Legend: Figure 1. Minocycline treatment suppresses the microglial response to hypoxia-ischemia (HI) in neonatal and juvenile mice. The number of CD11b+/CD45+ cells in ipsilateral hippocampus (A) cortex (B), and striatum (C) relative to the corresponding contralateral brain region (IL/CL) were determined …
