Questions?

Ania Dworzanski Graduate Program Coordinator p 585-275-5788 f 585-442-8766 ania_dworzanski@urmc.rochester.edu

2012 News

2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 Archives

April 16, 2012

A Pillar of Modern Neurology, Robert J. Joynt, Dies

Robert J. Joynt, M.D., Ph.D.

Robert J. Joynt, M.D., Ph.D., one of the most influential neurologists of the last half century and the founder of the Department of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, died April 13 at Strong Memorial Hospital. He was 86.

Dr. Joynt was a towering figure in international circles of neurology and headed both leading societies in neurology, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neurological Association. He also served as president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Beyond that, he was a beloved member of the Medical Center’s community, which he had served through several top-level posts, including dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry.
April 13, 2012

The Science Behind Self-Control

Have you ever wondered why you can’t bring yourself to choose the foods that are healthy over the ones you know are unhealthy? Researchers are not only trying to find out why, but what parts of the brain govern behaviors of self-control and how we can work to improve them. Ben Hayden, assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences, offers his insights based upon his research and how it has the potential to apply not only to our choices in food, but also how it could help people overcome addiction and even problems like obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Have you ever wondered why you can't bring yourself to choose the foods that are healthy over the ones you know are unhealthy? Researchers are not only trying to find out why, but what parts of the brain govern behaviors of self-control and how we can work to improve them. Ben Hayden is a neuroscientist and Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. He offers his insights based upon his research and how it has the potential to apply not only to our choices in food, but also how it could help people overcome addiction and even problems like obsessive-compulsive disorder. Music: Stellardrone, "Gravitation"
March 29, 2012

Once Considered Mainly ‘Brain Glue,’ Astrocytes’ Power Revealed

First authors Fushun Wang, Ph.D., (left) and NGP Graduate Student, Nathan Smith

A type of cell plentiful in the brain, long considered mainly the stuff that holds the brain together and oft-overlooked by scientists more interested in flashier cells known as neurons, wields more power in the brain than has been realized, according to new research published today in Science Signaling.

Neuroscientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center report that astrocytes are crucial for creating the proper environment for our brains to work. The team found that the cells play a key role in reducing or stopping the electrical signals that are considered brain activity, playing an active role in determining when cells called neurons fire and when they don’t.

Astrocytes have long been called housekeeping cells – tending to neurons, nurturing them, and cleaning up after them, said Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., professor of Neurosurgery and leader of the study. It turns out that they can influence the actions of neurons in ways that have not been realized.
March 13, 2012

Former Biophysics Chair and Senior Dean of Graduate Studies Dies

Paul L. LaCelle, M.D., a University of Rochester Medical Center faculty member for more than 40 years, a former department chair and former senior dean, died March 9. He was 82.
Dr. LaCelle, a 1959 graduate of the University's School of Medicine and Dentistry, joined the faculty in 1964 as an instructor of what was then the Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics. He was named a professor in 1974 and chaired what is now the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics from 1977 to 1996.
February 27, 2012

Each Flick of a Digit Is a Job for All 5

You may think you're pretty familiar with your hands. You may think you know them like the back of your hand. But as the following exercises derived from the latest hand research will reveal, your pair of bioengineering sensations still hold quite a few surprises up their sleeve.
Our fingers can seem like restless Ariels, so fast and dexterous you'd think they had plans and options of their own. Yet as scientists who study the performance, circuitry and evolution of the human hand have lately determined, the appearance of digital independence is deeply deceptive.
Even when you think you're moving just one finger, said Marc H. Schieber, a professor of neurology and neurobiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, you're really controlling your entire hand. The pianist playing Ravel or the typist clacking on Blogspot? People tend to think, they're hitting one key at a time, so they must be moving one finger at a time to hit that key, Dr. Schieber said. But really, all the fingers are in motion all the time.
February 22, 2012

Neuroscientist Benjamin Hayden Named 2012 Sloan Research Fellow

Benjamin Hayden, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester who is helping to unravel the mysteries of how humans make decisions, has been selected as a 2012 Sloan Research Fellow.
Awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955, the fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars. Each fellowship carries a $50,000, two-year award to help support the recipient's research.
An assistant professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Hayden studies self-control and decision-making from diverse perspectives, including psychology, neuroscience, animal behavior, even philosophy and popular culture.
February 21, 2012

A Step Forward In Effort to Regenerate Damaged Nerves

Thriving DRG cells.

The carnage evident in disasters like car wrecks or wartime battles is oftentimes mirrored within the bodies of the people involved. A severe wound can leave blood vessels and nerves severed, bones broken, and cellular wreckage strewn throughout the body – a debris field within the body itself.

It’s scenes like this that neurosurgeon Jason Huang, M.D., confronts every day. Severe damage to nerves is one of the most challenging wounds to treat for Huang and colleagues. It’s a type of wound suffered by people who are the victims of gunshots or stabbings, by those who have been involved in car accidents – or by soldiers injured on the battlefield, like those whom Huang treated in Iraq.

Now, back in his university laboratory, Huang and his team have taken a step forward toward the goal of repairing nerves in such patients more effectively. In a paper published in the journal PLoS One, Huang and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center report that a surprising set of cells may hold potential for nerve transplants.