News

Second place design by Nicole Peltier

The Dana Foundation announced the winners of their first Sticker Design Contest for Brain Awareness Week (BAW) 2018! The submissions received showcased talent and creativity from brain enthusiasts all around the world, and the first, second, and third place winners were chosen by online polls open to the public. The contest received nearly 2,500 votes from around the world. It was a tight battle for the top spot.

Congratulation Nicole Peltier, who is in her fifth year as a PhD student in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. Though she has no formal training in art, Peltier created her design as a fun challenge that combined her love for the brain with her creativity, she said.

Way to go Nicole!!

Shraddha Shah (G3) introduces students to systems-based research.

One of PONS's missions is to provide relevant neuroscience education to University of Rochester community members of all ages and backgrounds. On December 9, 2017, we provided an introduction to neuroscience for high school students and their mentors in the UR Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) - UP TO MEDICINE. PONS members Monique Mendes (G3), Holly Beaulac (G3), Garrick Salois (G3), and Shraddha Shah (G3) revealed their reasons for pursuing neuroscience PhDs and provided brief overviews of their current research. STEP students also reviewed basic brain anatomy, asked questions about the field, and considered how experiments are conducted. We had a great time discussing neuroscience and were happy to meet such outstanding students!

More information about the missions of PONS and upcoming events can be found on our blog.

The brain’s complex network of neurons enables us to interpret and effortlessly navigate and interact with the world around us. But when these links are damaged due to injury or stroke, critical tasks like perception and movement can be disrupted. New research is helping scientists figure out how to harness the brain’s plasticity to rewire these lost connections, an advance that could accelerate the development of neuro-prosthetics.

A new study authored by Marc Schieber, M.D., Ph.D., and Kevin Mazurek, Ph.D. with the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Neurology and the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, which appears today in the journal Neuron, shows that very low levels of electrical stimulation delivered directly to an area of the brain responsible for motor function can instruct an appropriate response or action, essentially replacing the signals we would normally receive from the parts of the brain that process what we hear, see, and feel.

“The analogy is what happens when we approach a red light,” said Schieber. “The light itself does not cause us to step on the brake, rather our brain has been trained to process this visual cue and send signals to another parts of the brain that control movement. In this study, what we describe is akin to replacing the red light with an electrical stimulation which the brain has learned to associate with the need to take an action that stops the car.”

Krishnan Padmanabhan, Ph.D.

Congratulate Krishnan on receiving one the this year's NIMH 2017 BRAINS awards.

The NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS) award is intended to support the research and research career advancement of outstanding, exceptionally productive scientists who are in the early, formative stages of their careers and who plan to make a long term career commitment to research in specific mission areas of the NIMH. This award seeks to assist these individuals in launching an innovative clinical, translational, basic or services research program that holds the potential to profoundly transform the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of mental disorders. The NIMH BRAINS program will focus on the research priorities and gap areas identified in the NIMH Strategic Plan and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project.

Rebecca Rausch successfully defended her PhD thesis on Friday, November 3rd!

Make sure to congratulate her when you see her.

Stephen Steadman '64, center, presents Kevin Mazurek, left, with the first place honor and audience prize at the Meliora Weekend competition for the Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research. Steadman, who received a BS in physics from the University of Rochester, is a scientific administrator at the Laboratory for Nuclear Science and the Department of Physics at MIT. Melissa Sturge-Apple, dean of graduate studies, is at right. (University of Rochester photo / Bob Marcotte)

Even simple movements require the integration of information from multiple areas of the brain. This process breaks down when brain damage occurs, resulting in neurological disorders.

But what if researchers could find a way to bypass those damaged areas and maintain the flow of information?

Kevin Mazurek, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Marc Schieber, professor of neurology, described how the lab is making progress in doing just that. He finished in first place and took the audience prize as well in the Meliora Weekend competition for the Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research.

Mazurek’s prizes were worth $1,250.

Using micro electrical stimulation in primates, “we’ve shown that we can deliver the information successfully to two functionally different areas of the brain,” Mazurek explained. “This is an important first step.”

The next steps in the research, which incorporates neurology, neuroscience, electrical engineering, and biomedical engineering, include expanding the ability to communicate information across a wide reach of brain areas. This could “potentially improve the quality of living for individuals with injuries such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, or Alzheimer’s disease.”

This is the second year of the competition.

It is open to all postdoctoral scholars and appointees in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and in Arts, Sciences & Engineering. Four prizes are awarded for research that exemplifies the importance of cross- disciplinary approaches toward examining high impact questions of science. Prizes were awarded based on 3-minute oral presentations to a panel of judges.

This year’s topics ranged from “Recent Breakthroughs in Understanding the Brain’s Waste Removal System” to “Catalytic Solar-Driven Generation of H2 in Artificial Photosynthesis” – and the benefits of yoga in helping cancer patients cope with the side affects of chemotherapy.

Lynne E. Maquat, Ph.D., an internationally recognized researcher who studies what happens in our cells during disease, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine. The honor is akin to an actor receiving an Emmy for an outstanding performance; current members of the Academy elected Maquat for her exceptional research in the field of RNA biology. The accolade places her amongst an elite group of scientists and physicians who have made significant contributions to health and medicine.

In studying RNA, a close cousin to DNA, Maquat has discovered intricate cellular processes that influence normal genes, as well as genes involved in a wide range of diseases. Her findings are leading to the development of new treatment approaches for everything from cancer and heart disease, to intellectual and developmental disabilities and other neurologic disorders.

“Lynne is at the forefront of a movement to transform our increasing understanding of RNA biology into promising therapies for virtually all disease processes,” said Mark B. Taubman, M.D., CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center and Dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. “She is an incredible asset to the University and will undoubtedly bring a wealth of valuable experience and knowledge to the National Academy of Medicine.”

Formerly called the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Medicine is an independent organization of professionals from diverse fields that advises the nation and the international community on issues in health, medicine and related policy. For example, in 2016 the Academy released a report calling for more and better research into ovarian cancer, one of the deadliest cancers, and recently issued a report detailing how physicians can help combat America’s opioid crisis.

The J. Lowell Orbison Endowed Chair and Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and of Oncology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Maquat is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Sciences. She was the first individual from upstate New York to receive the prestigious Canada International Gairdner Award, the country’s top award for excellence in biomedical research, which she won in 2015.

The National Institutes of Health has continuously funded Maquat’s research for the past 34 years and she’s published more than 150 papers and reviews. She is the founding director of the University of Rochester Center for RNA Biology and founding chair of the Graduate Women in Science program. She’s committed countless hours to mentoring the next generation of researchers and advocating for young women in the sciences.

When she is formally inducted into the National Academy of Medicine in October 2018, Maquat will join four other active Rochester faculty members: Seymour I. Schwartz in the Department of Surgery: Elizabeth R. McAnarney in Pediatrics; Paul S. Frame in Family Medicine; and Robert C. Griggs in Neurology.

Can a workout regimen for your mind and body help to fend off Alzheimer’s disease?

Physical and mental activity have been shown to boost brain function in different ways, but a new study will look to see if the benefits of engaging in a rigorously designed program that includes both aerobic exercise and brain training will complement each other, producing greater gains in cognition than if both activities had been done independently.

Feng Vankee Lin, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor in the University of Rochester School of Nursing, the Departments of Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Neurology, and Psychiatry, and director of the Cog-T Laboratory promoting successful aging, and Fang Yu, Ph.D., R.N., G.N.P.-B.C., F.G.S.A., F.A.A.N., associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, are principal investigators on the five-year, $3.67 million grant from the National Institute of Aging.

“This is the first trial to test the synergistic effects of a combined program of aerobic exercise and cognitive training on cognition and mechanisms relevant to Alzheimer’s disease-associated neurodegeneration in older adults with mild cognitive impairment,” said Lin.

Heather Natola, Ph.D.

Heather Natola successfully defended her PhD thesis on Tuesday, October 3rd!

Make sure to congratulate her when you see her.

URMC Drug to be Tested for Delirium and Dementia Following Surgery; Also Brain Disorder ALS

For those caring for elderly parents or grandparents, this scene may be familiar: Grandma falls and fractures her hip. Grandma has surgery to repair the broken hip. Grandma comes out of surgery delirious and confused; she can’t remember simple things, or focus on more than one thing at a time.

More than half of older adults suffer from delirium after surgery that may progress to dementia, a condition called postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). There are no good treatments for postoperative cognitive dysfunction, which is associated with increased illness and death. Estimates suggest that caring for patients with POCD costs more than $150 billion a year.

A team of researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and Duke University Medical Center is addressing the problem, with the help of a five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Aging at the National Institutes of Health.

What causes postoperative cognitive dysfunction?

What causes postoperative cognitive dysfunction is not entirely understood, but the body’s immune response to surgery and subsequent inflammation throughout the body – including in the brain – likely play a role. The team, led by Niccolo Terrando, Ph.D. at Duke, will test in animal models a drug developed in the laboratory of Harris A. “Handy” Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D. at URMC. Called URMC-099, the drug tamps down the body’s immune response and reduces inflammation.

A new study published in the journal Brain Behavior and Immunity appears to challenge the theory that cells in the brain’s immune system are the culprit behind the neurological damage that occurs in children exposed to alcohol while in the womb.

“In order to develop treatments for this condition, we must first understand how alcohol affects the developing brain,” said Ania Majewska, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and lead author of the study. “While the hypothesis that dysfunctional immune cells play a role in fetal alcohol syndrome is logical and enticing, it appears that this idea may be a scientific dead end.”

Exposure to alcohol in the womb can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), a condition that causes lifelong physical and cognitive impairments, and for which there is no available treatment. The symptoms suffered by individuals with FASD can range from poor impulse control and attention, learning disabilities, compromised fine motor skills, and delays in the ability of the brain to process visual and auditory information. FASD is diagnosed in about one out of every 100 babies born in the U.S.

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) is participating in what is being characterized as the largest long-term study of brain development and child health. The study will follow the biological and behavioral development of more than 10,000 children from ages 9-10 through early adulthood.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study was created by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate the developmental period during which the brain undergoes dramatic changes. The study will seek to better understand how children's experiences impact brain maturation and other aspects of their lives, including academic achievement, social development, behavior, and overall health.

"Adolescence is a time of extraordinary physical, emotional, and intellectual growth," said John Foxe, Ph.D., director of the Del Monte Neuroscience Institute and principal investigator of the URMC ABCD Study. "Yet there is a great deal that we don't know about how experiences such as participation in sports or music programs, screen time, sleep patterns, and long-term exposure to medications and stimulants impact their transition to adulthood."

The Microglial Fractalkine Receptor is not Required for Activity-Dependent Plasticity in the Mouse Visual System

Microglia have recently been implicated as key regulators of activity-dependent plasticity, where they contribute to the removal of inappropriate or excess synapses. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate this microglial function are still not well understood. Although multiple studies have implicated fractalkine signaling as a mediator of microglia–neuron communications during synaptic plasticity, it is unclear whether this is a universal signaling mechanism or whether its role is limited to specific brain regions and stages of the lifespan. Here, we examined whether fractalkine signaling mediates microglial contributions to activity-dependent plasticity in the developing and adolescent visual system. Using genetic ablation of fractalkine's cognate receptor, CX3CR1, and both ex vivo characterization and in vivo imaging in mice, we examined whether fractalkine signaling is required for microglial dynamics and modulation of synapses, as well as activity-dependent plasticity in the visual system. We did not find a role for fractalkine signaling in mediating microglial properties during visual plasticity. Ablation of CX3CR1 had no effect on microglial density, distribution, morphology, or motility, in either adolescent or young adult mice across brain regions that include the visual cortex. Ablation of CX3CR1 also had no effect on baseline synaptic turnover or contact dynamics between microglia and neurons. Finally, we found that fractalkine signaling is not required for either early or late forms of activity-dependent visual system plasticity. These findings suggest that fractalkine is not a universal regulator of synaptic plasticity, but rather has heterogeneous roles in specific brain regions and life stages.

Ross Maddox, PhD

Ross Maddox's lab has posted the preprint for his latest paper on biorXiv! They showed that it's possible to measure the response of the auditory brainstem to natural speech using EEG.

Speech is an ecologically essential signal whose processing begins in the subcortical nuclei of the auditory brainstem, but there are few experimental options for studying these early responses under natural conditions. While encoding of continuous natural speech has been successfully probed in the cortex with neurophysiological tools such as electro- and magnetoencephalography, the rapidity of subcortical response components combined with unfavorable signal to noise ratios has prevented application of those methods to the brainstem. Instead, experiments have used thousands of repetitions of simple stimuli such as clicks, tonebursts, or brief spoken syllables, with deviations from those paradigms leading to ambiguity in the neural origins of measured responses. In this study we developed and tested a new way to measure the auditory brainstem response to ongoing, naturally uttered speech. We found a high degree of morphological similarity between the speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and the standard click-evoked ABR, notably a preserved wave V, the most prominent voltage peak in the standard click-evoked ABR. Because this method yields distinct peaks at latencies too short to originate from the cortex, the responses measured can be unambiguously determined to be subcortical in origin. The use of naturally uttered speech to evoke the ABR allows the design of engaging behavioral tasks, facilitating new investigations of the effects of cognitive processes like language processing and attention on brainstem processing.

Three of our Division of Neural and Anatomical Education teachers were recognized at Convocation 2017

• David R. Kornack was the recipient of a Special Teaching Commendation Award
• Sergiy Nadtochiy received the Manuel D. Goldman Prize
• Linda Callahan was named the Lawence E. Young Dean's Teaching Fellow for 2017-2019

David R. Kornack

Sergiy Nadtochiy

Linda Callahan

Four Neuroscience Graduate Program first year students were presented with Convocation 2017 Awards.

• Katherine Andersh was the recipient of the Irving L. Spar Award
• Karl Foley received the Walle J.H. Nauta Award for Excellence in the Neurosciences
• Berke Karaahmet was the recipient of the Merritt and Marjorie Cleveland Fellowship Award
• Allison Murphy was the recipient of the J. Newell Stannard Graduate Student Scholarship Award

Katherine Andersh

Karl Foley

Berke Karaahmet

Allison Murphy

Maybe you've recently suffered a stroke and are now starting therapy, trying to regain speech, motor functions, and possibly improve memory. But your vision is damaged, too, and there's no therapy available.
Yet.
Krystel Huxlin, director of research and the James V. Aquavella Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Flaum Eye Institute, has been working in her lab over the last ten years to change that. Here's how she sums up her latest results, published earlier this year in the journal Neurology:

"If people do exactly what we tell them and they don't cheat, the success rate has been in our hands a 100 percent."

Huxlin spoke at the inaugural Light & Sound Interactive conference in Rochester, jointly sponsored by the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology, as part of a panel on blindness and visual impairment that addressed corrective, restorative and rehabilitative approaches.

Join us in congratulating Ally for receiving this award from the Society for Neuroscience. The award will support travel to this year’s meeting in Washington, DC, and a special poster session for all trainees at the meeting. Ally will also benefit from admission to Professional Development Workshops, and presentation of her poster in the meeting at-large, Wednesday November 15.

“Researchers have long fixed their attention on eye-tracking in detecting autism spectrum disorders, but now they may have discovered a new tool that could lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention.” the research is by John Foxe, the Kilian J. and Caroline F. Schmitt Professor in Neuroscience and chair of the Department of Neuroscience.

In a July 12 article in the European Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Rochester linked differences in the cerebellar vermis (in the rear of the cerebellum, which controls the development of human movement, social skills and emotional development) to the plasticity of saccadic or rapid eye movements within a subgroup of people with disorders on the autism spectrum (ASD).

Rapid eye movements (also known as saccade) may be the key, say Edward G. Freeman, Ph.D., and John J. Foxe Ph.D. These eye movements-typically quick, precise and accurate in healthy eyes-occur when we shift our gaze between objects and are important in interacting with the world. Sometimes though, in people with ASD, the movements can "over- or undershoot the intended target locations," they wrote in the study.

Newly appointed Dept. of Neuroscience faculty member, Farran Briggs, Ph.D. has her research highlighted on Wired.

When ferrets get a rabies shot in a neurobiology lab, they don't get infected with the virus—or even inoculated against it. They get a brain hack that might just explain how your brain handles vision, and maybe even your other senses, too.

In a lab at Dartmouth, scientists are experimenting with targeted injections of a modified rabies virus into the brains of ferrets—essentially allowing them to control how the animal responds to simple visual patterns. The goal is to understand the brain's enormously complex visual processing system. But really? Rabies? Ferrets? Are these guys just screwing around?

Lots of visual research depends on lab mice—the most popular of model organisms in biology. But Dartmouth neuroscientist and lead author Farran Briggs wanted to study an animal that uses its vision the same way humans do, in an evolutionary sense: to prey on tasty snacks. Mice aren’t predators, and their vision falls solidly in the ‘legally blind’ range. So these vision researchers turned to the notoriously vicious ferret and its front-facing eyes. They're color blind, but at the neural level, ferrets’ visual systems have “remarkable similarities to a primate, and a human,” says Briggs. (Ferrets also help avoid the ethical issues of experimenting on primates.)

A new study out in European Journal of Neuroscience could herald a new tool that helps physicians identify a sub-group of people with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The test, which consists of measuring rapid eye movements, may indicate deficits in an area of the brain that plays an important role in emotional and social development.

“These findings build upon a growing field of research that show that eye movement could serve as a window into a part of the brain that plays a role in a number of neurological and development disorders, such as Autism,” said John Foxe, Ph.D., director of the University of Rochester Medical Center Del Monte Neuroscience Institute and co-author of the study.

ASD is characterized by a wide range of symptoms that can vary in severity from person to person. This unpredictability not only presents a challenge for diagnosis, but also how best to devise a course of treatment. Identifying the specific phenotype of the disorder is, therefore, an essential first step to providing effective care.

Matt Cavanaugh successfully defended his PhD thesis on Monday, July 17th! Matt will be staying at the URMC as a post-doc with Dr. Steve Feldon. Matt will be running a clinical trial, under Dr. Feldon, on the training program they developed in lab to bring it through the FDA approval process.

John O'Donnell successfully defended his PhD thesis on Monday, July 17th! John will be starting a post-doc with Dr. Joel Perlmutter at Washington University in Saint Louis this fall, studying neuromodulators in cognitive decline in Parkinson's Disease.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a grant to URMC researchers exploring methods of making cognitive training more effective for older adults by improving their attitudes toward computers.

Feng Vankee Lin, Ph.D., RN, an SON assistant professor and director of the CogT Lab promoting successful aging, and Benjamin Chapman, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor of Psychiatry, are principal investigators on the $421,000, two-year study.

Computerized cognitive training methods, such as online “brain games” have been widely implemented among adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in recent years. However those interventions have not proven to be a consistently reliable method of improving or maintaining the cognitive health of older adults. Results are highly variable, and one possible explanation lies in how comfortable seniors feel using technology.

“The goal of this study is to generate a proof-of-concept for an intervention that may improve attitudes toward computers among those older adults with MCI,” said Lin, who is now principal or co-investigator on six current NIH grants. “Improving the intervention engagement of those individuals, we think, will then help us develop more effective computerized cognitive interventions in the future. It is the first study that we know of that strives to augment computerized cognitive training by addressing an attitudinal or affective element of the person.”

At the core of the study is the notion of person-centered care – integrating individuals’ preference throughout the process of intervention. The person-centered approached has been shown to improve engagement among older persons, including those with MCI, and pilot data collected at assisted-living facilities suggests that computer-led leisure activities promotes psychological well-being among older persons with MCI and may change their perception about technology. A computer used for fun activities may no longer seem daunting, complex, or irrelevant, but instead be seen as familiar and enjoyable.

“These results are consistent with a number of theories indicating that exposure to pleasurable experiences with an object or task improves several dimensions of attitudes, including affective and cognitive components, as well as behavior and motivation,” Lin said.

Grounded in this pilot data and the theory around it, investigators will lead a small randomized controlled trial among assisted-living residents to assess whether a period of computer-led leisure activities prior to cognitive training improves attitudes toward computers, engagement with the intervention, or cognitive outcomes.

Anton Porsteinsson, M.D., professor of Neurology, is a co-investigator on the grant, which is also receiving recruitment support from Dallas Nelson, M.D., and Sarah Howd, M.D., in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Geriatrics and Aging.

The ubiquitous human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) may play a critical role in impeding the brain’s ability to repair itself in diseases like multiple sclerosis. The findings, which appear in the journal Scientific Reports, may help explain the differences in severity in symptoms that many people with the disease experience.

“While latent HHV-6 – which can be found in cells throughout the brain – has been associated with demyelinating disorders like multiple sclerosis it has not been clear what role, if any, it plays in these diseases,” said Margot Mayer-Proschel, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Biomedical Genetics and co-author of the study. “These findings show that, while in the process of hiding from the immune system, the virus produces a protein that has the potential to impair the normal ability of cells in the brain to repair damaged myelin.”

Ed Freedman and John Foxe have just published preliminary data from a study examining eye movement changes in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), particularly looking at the role of the cerebellum (DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13625). The cerebellum, Latin for ‘little’ brain, sits at the base of brain, underneath the cerebral cortex. Although it has been called ‘mini’, the cerebellum actually has more neurons, or cells, than the cerebral cortex. Classically considered to play a role in the control of movements and the learning of motor patterns, it is now known to play a role in emotion and cognition through its connection to the rest of the brain. And, there is evidence that the structure of the cerebellum is altered in a sub-population of individuals with ASD.

In the current paper, Ed and John present the results of experiments tracking the rapid eye-movements made when looking from one object to another, or saccades, in individuals with ASD. Accuracy and precision are maintained by careful comparison of the movement command produced by the brain and the results of the actual movement. Any differences between these lead to adjustments of the commands for ensuing saccades. This type of sensorimotor adaptation is dependent on the proper functioning of the cerebellum. However, there is anatomical evidence that some people with an ASD have cerebella with slightly altered structure. If the cerebellar structure is altered, is its function also altered in this sub-group of people? Assessing the ability of people with an ASD to adapt saccade amplitudes is one way to determine whether this function of the cerebellum is altered in ASD.

Another point of interest is determining if the deficits in saccades relate to any of the other key symptoms observed in ASD.

If saccade adaptation deficits do turn out to be a consistent finding in a sub-group of children with ASD, this raises the possibility that saccade adaptation measures may have utility as an early-detection endophenotype. Changes in cerebellar structure most likely occur in utero and very recent work has shown that saccadic adaptation can be measured in children as young as 10-41 months of age is a most encouraging development indeed. - Ed and John

Feng (Vankee) Lin, Ph.D., RN, assistant professor, received the Terry Family Research Fund Education for the Center for Outcomes Measurement and the Elaine C. Hubbard Center for Nursing Research on Aging Endowed Award. The awards will further their research on the neural mechanisms of — and interventions to improve — older adults’ social connectedness.

A recent scientific study shows that insufficient amount of sleep leads to the development of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers gain more evidence and are beginning to believe that lack and poor quality of sleep results to the fusion of Amyloids, proteins that bond together to form Alzheimer's plaques.

Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, the lead researcher from the University of Rochester Medical Center, explains the glymphatic system that is present in humans. She says that this system is 10 times more active when in slumber than when awake. The process allows cerebrospinal fluid to flow through spaces around the neurons of people's brains. This a method of purging unwanted proteins (Amyloids) and other wastes into the circulatory system garbage collectors and eventually flushes it out of the body.

In simple terms, Nedergaard explains that the brain has its own sanitation and public works department. It is like a network of sewer facilities mostly done during the brain's nightlife. An example of a housekeeping staff descending to building offices for a cleanup duty to avoid the lumping compound that causes Alzheimer's.

Keshov Sharma, a second-year student in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), presented work collected in part during his laboratory last summer at the SOBP Annual meeting in May. The study, “Dual Neural Connections between the Amygdala and the Ventromedial (BA25) and Dorsomedial (BA24) Prefrontal Cortex in the Macaque”, was inspired by recent data in rodents implicating separate subcircuits between amygdala and infralimbic cortex, and amygdala and the prelimbic cortex, in fear extinction and fear consolidation, respectively. To find a comparable bridge to human fear studies, we designed studies to examine this question in monkeys because of their relatively larger and more subdivided cortical architecture that parallels the human. Analyzing dual retrograde injections into proposed ‘homologues’ of these rodent cortical regions in monkeys, we found that cells projecting to these cortical regions were mostly intermixed in several specific amygdala subnuclei in primates. Moreover, a subpopulation of neurons projected to both prefrontal regions, indicating common neural modulation of these functionally dissociated areas. Thus, amygdala inputs to separable, functionally opposed cortical regions exist in close proximity to one another in specific parts of the amygdala, and some of these cells participate in both ‘subcircuits’. Understanding this organization may provide clues about how to ‘tip the balance’ between fear learning and fear extinction learning in higher species, including humans that suffer from illnesses characterized by aberrant fear learning.

The Center for Neural Development and Disease, led by Harris A. (Handy) Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D., since 2008, will now be the Center for NeuroTherapeutics Discovery, reflecting an increased emphasis on translation and the creation of intellectual property that will lead to new therapies for nervous system disorders.

Gelbard, professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, Neuroscience and Microbiology & Immunology, will continue as director. His research, coupled with the work of Charles Thornton, M.D., professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, and Marc Halterman, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Pediatrics, will serve as the anchor of the new center. The trio has a strong track record of grants, publications, and patents, as well as academic and commercial relationships that they are actively pursuing to bring new treatments to the public.

“The Center for NeuroTherapeutics Discovery was developed out of the Center for Neural Development and Disease to create more visibility for academic and commercial partnerships as a necessary bridge for bringing new therapeutics forward,” said Gelbard. “This represents a way to do the best and most cutting edge science possible in a time when the traditional avenues towards funding academic research are changing rapidly.”

The center will bring together many investigators from across the Medical Center and River Campus to identify the mechanisms that lead to various neurological disorders, including HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (Gelbard lab), myotonic dystrophy (Thornton lab) and stroke (Halterman lab). The center remains committed to its members that investigate the molecular signaling events that lead to nervous system disease during development and aging. Industry partnerships and resources will be sought to fast-track existing therapies or create new molecules that affect these disease mechanisms.

Treatments that harness the immune system to help regenerate damaged cells will be a major focus at the center; the team believes that this approach is broadly applicable to a range of acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Adam Rouse, Post-doctoral Fellow in Neuroscience, recently received an NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). His project “Neural encoding of motor precision for advancing brain-machine interfaces” will study how motor areas of the brain encode different movements and use advanced mathematical models to build brain-machine interfaces that are more precise and intuitive to the user. In addition to his current mentor, Dr. Marc Schieber, Professor in Neurology and Neuroscience, the award will also support Dr. Rouse’s career development with additional mentoring from Dr. Robert Jacobs, Professor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Dr. Sridevi Sarma, Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The 2017-2019 Dean’s Teaching Fellows have been named. Beau Abar, Ph.D., assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, has been named the Paul F. Griner Dean’s Teaching Fellow. Jessica Shand, M.D., MHS, assistant professor of Pediatrics, has been named the George L. Engel Dean’s Teaching Fellow. Katherine Greenberg, M.D., assistant professor of Adolescent Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology, has been named the Jules Cohen Dean’s Teaching Fellow. Linda Callahan, Ph.D., assistant professor of Neuroscience, has been named the Lawrence E. Young Dean’s Teaching Fellow.

The Dean’s Teaching Fellowship Program is a competitive endowed two-year program for faculty who are dedicated to academic careers in medical education. The mission of the program is to develop faculty who can prepare medical students, residents, and practicing physicians to become professionals who are responsive to society’s needs and the ever-changing health care system.

The program typically accepts four Fellows a year who attend a three-hour, bi-weekly seminar series focused on different areas of educational theory, research and teaching methods, educational technology, assessment, curriculum design, faculty development, leadership and career planning. During their time in the program, Fellows conduct a scholarly educational project that is directly translatable to their teaching role and will culminate in a publication or presentation at a national meeting.

Two University of Rochester start-up companies are among those singled out in a new report from the Science Coalition. The report, “American-Made Innovation Sparking Economic Growth,” identifies 102 companies that trace their roots to federally-funded university research.

“The innovation that drives economic growth in the U.S. is based, in large part, on the scientific discoveries made in research universities and funded by the federal government,” said Rob Clark, University provost and senior vice president for research. “As a nation, it is imperative that we continue to support the fundamental science that leads to new technologies and improves lives.”

Clerio Vision was founded in 2014 by Wayne Knox and Jon Ellis with the Institute of Optics, and Krystel Huxlin with the Flaum Eye Institute in the Medical Center. The company is developing a new technology that improves eyesight by “writing” a prescription on the cornea using small pulses from a laser that change the focusing power of the eye. Because the technique doesn’t change the shape of the cornea like LASIK procedures, it can be repeated as needed over a person’s lifetime to correct vision. The research to develop the technology was funded in part with a $200,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Recently Dr. Duje Tadin, Associate Professor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and at the Center for Visual Science won the NARSAD Independent Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. The title of his project is "A critical role of perceptual inefficiencies in working memory abnormalities in schizophrenia". He also has a pending application to the Simons Foundation's SFARI Pilot Awards program with a project titled "Functional consequences of elevated internal noise in autism."

Well done!!

Neuroscience Graduate Program student Jessica Hogestyn, a student in the Mayer-Pröschel Lab, has been selected as one of the winners of the 2017 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Her nomination material exemplified her ability as an outstanding educator with bright future.

Congratulations Jessica!!

Researchers have discovered that a protein implicated in human longevity may also play a role in restoring hearing after noise exposure. The findings, where were published in the journal Scientific Reports, could one day provide researchers with new tools to prevent hearing loss.

The study reveals that a gene called Forkhead Box O3 (Foxo3) appears to play a role in protecting outer hair cells in the inner ear from damage. The outer hair cells act as a biological sound amplifier and are critical to hearing. When exposed to loud noises, these cells undergo stress. In some individuals, these cells are able to recover, but in others the outer hair cells die, permanently impairing hearing. While hearing aids and other treatments can help recovered some range of hearing, there is currently no biological cure for hearing loss.

“While more than a hundred genes have been identified as being involved in childhood hearing loss, little is known about the genes that regulate hearing recovery after noise exposure,” said Patricia White, Ph.D., a research associate professor in the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Neuroscience and lead author of the study. “Our study shows that Foxo3 could play an important role in determining which individuals might be more susceptible to noise-induced hearing loss.”

It has been a very busy and successful spring for the NGP students. Evan McConnell, MD/PhD student successfully defended his PhD thesis on Wednesday, April 12 and Xiaowei Wang passed her final PhD examination on Monday, April 17, 2017. Both students come from Dr. Maiken Nedergaard lab.

Congratulations to both!

New study details "physical therapy" for eyes

DeMay fixes his gaze on a live image of his own eye
in preparation for the next round of training.

Patients who went partially blind after suffering a stroke regained large swaths of rudimentary sight after undergoing visual training designed by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Flaum Eye Institute.

A new study out today in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, provides the first evidence that rigorous visual training recovers basic vision in cortically blind patients with long-standing stroke damage in the primary visual cortex. Damage to this area of the brain prevents visual information from getting to other brain regions that help make sense of it, causing loss of sight in one-quarter to one-half of an individual's normal field of view. Somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 people suffer vision loss due to damage to the visual cortex each year.

"We are the only people in the U.S. currently using this type of training to recover vision lost after damage to the primary visual cortex," said study senior author Krystel Huxlin, Ph.D., director of Research and James V. Aquavella, M.D. Professor of Ophthalmology at URMC's Flaum Eye Institute. "If you talk to the majority of clinicians, they still believe nothing can be done."

Nguyen Mai, an MD/PhD student in Dr. Marc Halterman's lab, has successfully defended her thesis.
You can watch a stream of her defense from the URMC Panopto site.

Congratulations Dr. Nguyen!

New research reveals the complex circuits involved in regulating the neurotransmitter dopamine in our brains. Traditionally thought to be limited to reward seeking, the new study shows that parts of the ‘emotional’ brain may also manipulate dopamine to help us pay attention and react to new information in the environment.

The study, which appears in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, was led by Julie Fudge, M.D., with the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neuroscience.

The research focuses on an area of the brain called the amygdala, which is known to be important for social and emotional development and behaviors. The amygdala receives sensory information – sight, sound, and smells – and processes it by combining it with information stored in our memories. It evaluates changes or new information to help determine whether it is worthy of our attention or if it can be ignored. The new study shows that one way the amygdala can accomplish this is by communicating with the brain’s dopamine producing cells.

Berkeley Fahrenthold, a graduate student in Dr. Rick Libby's lab, successfully defended her PhD thesis titled,"Assessment of the involvement of intrinsic and extrinsic cell death pathways in retinal ganglion cell death after excitotoxic injury".

Congratulations Dr. Fahrenthold!!!

Professor Edward Brown has received NIH funding for his research project titled, "Using Second Harmonic Generation to Predict Metastatic Outcome in Colon Adenocarcinoma."

"In summary, we previously discovered that an optical scattering phenomenon from primary tumor samples provides an independent prognostic indicator of time to metastasis in colon cancer patients," Professor Brown says. "With this grant we will explore if and how this can be used to improve prediction of outcomes for individual patients, leading to improved therapy decisions."

Abstract:

When treating a colon adenocarcinoma (CA) patient, after surgical resection of the tumor the clinician must formulate a plan for adjuvant systemic therapy. This decision is based upon an assessment of the risk of systemic disease recurrence, and is currently informed by pathological factors such as stage, histological grade, and lymph node status. Improvement of the accuracy of risk assessment for individual patients is an area of recognized need. Much of the current information used to assess risk focuses on the cells within tumors, including their morphological properties. Less attention is paid to the extracellular matrix through which metastasizing cells must travel. Second harmonic generation (SHG) is an optical scattering phenomenon whose directionality (as quantified by the "F/B" ratio) is affected by the diameter, spacing, and disorder of fibrils within collagen fibers. Our preliminary data suggests that F/B analysis of tumor samples provides prognostic information about future metastasis that is "matrix-focused" and hence complementary to current "cell-focused" methods. Consequently we hypothesize that F/B is a clinically useful predictor of metastatic outcome in colon adenocarcinoma. In a preliminary study in 44 Stage I colon adenocarcinoma samples we found that F/B of the primary tumor is a significant prognostic indicator of progression free survival time. Significantly, the quartile of patients with the lowest F/B ratio had a 15 year progression free survival percentage of below 50%. In other words, in this study F/B could identify a subset of Stage I patients who had survival statistics similar to Stage III patients. Stage I patients are rarely prescribed adjuvant chemotherapy while Stage III patients are almost always prescribed it. This suggests that F/B can identify patients who would have benefitted from adjuvant chemotherapy and who were left untreated based upon current prognostic indicators. The prognostic trend was also evident in a cohort of 72 Stage II colon adenocarcinoma samples, although it was not significant. This project will move this idea closer to the clinic by first (Aim 1) using archived samples and follow up data in separate training and validation sets to develop predictive algorithms that include F/B, in addition to clinical and genomic information. Second it will (Aim 2) quantify the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on the predictive ability of the algorithms, as well as quantify their ability to predict chemotherapeutic efficacy. We predict that F/B analysis will be an effective tool that can reach the clinic rapidly after this study to improve metastatic risk assessment. Improving the accuracy of risk estimation for an individual patient will allow clinicians to treat those patients who are destined for metastases, improving outcomes, while avoiding treatment for those patients who are not, reducing overtreatment.

Caring for a loved one with dementia can be very
stressful, but two URMC research studies are
exploring ways to help caregivers manage stress
and improve their own health.

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia can not only be very stressful, but can negatively affect the well-being of the caregiver. A pair of studies at the University of Rochester Medical Center is exploring ways to help caregivers manage stress and improve their own health so they can more effectively provide care for their loved one.

Kathi Heffner, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Nursing and Department of Psychiatry, and Jan Moynihan, Ph.D., the George L. Engel Professor in Psychosocial Medicine in the Departments of Psychiatry and Microbiology and Immunology, were awarded more than $5.66 million in NIH funding for two five-year randomized clinical intervention trials focusing on reducing the effects of caregiving on immune health.

Heffner is principal investigator on a cognitive training intervention trial looking at different types of brain training activities and whether they have an effect on the aging of the caregiver’s immune system. Moynihan is leading a study on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), to see if mindfulness can lead to better immune response to the influenza vaccine.

The grant application to support the Rochester Society for Neuroscience chapter was recently funded due to efforts by Past President, Doug Portman. Thanks to Doug's efforts and excellent leadership over the last two years, we can continue our efforts to increase neuroscience awareness and education in our community.

The current Chapter President, Liz Romanski, would like to congratulate the organizers and volunteers for hosting a very successful, first ever, Rochester Brain Bee on February 11, 2017 (picture attached). Ten students from high schools in the Rochester area competed in the Brain Bee, answering questions spanning a large body of neuroscience facts covering brain development, cognition, disease processes, neuroimaging, etc. The three finalists in the Brain Bee were:

1. Neli Kotlyar, Pittsford Mendon High School (grade 10)
2. Maha Khokhar, Pittsford Sutherland High School (grade 12)
3. Kathryn Gentile, Pittsford Mendon High School (grade 11)

Heather Natola and Nicole Peltier were the organizers of the Brain Bee, and were assisted by volunteers from the Brain Awareness committee including Neuroscience graduate students Jessie Hogestyn and Josh Hinkle, and BCS grad students Alyssa Kersey, Carol Jew, and Matt Overlan. The winner of the Brain Bee will fly to Baltimore, MD in March for the National Brain Bee. Funding was made possible by the Society for Neuroscience Chapter, the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and the Department of Neuroscience with prizes from local businesses and donations from Drs. Huxlin and Nehrke. Great job all!

Nina Schor, M.D., Ph.D., William H. Eilinger Chair of Pediatrics and the pediatrician-in-chief at UR Medicine’s Golisano Children’s Hospital, has been named the recipient of the Child Neurology Society’s 2017 Hower Award, the organization’s highest honor.

The award is given annually to a child neurologist for being an outstanding teacher, scholar, and for making high levels of contributions to the field and to the Child Neurology Society. Schor, who has spent much of her career researching neuroblastoma, one of the most common childhood cancers, will be recognized at the society’s annual meeting in October, in Kansas City, Mo. She will also have the honor of giving the annual Hower lecture.

“I am so honored and excited to accept this award and present the associated lecture to an audience comprised of my colleagues, friends, mentors, and trainees,” said Schor.

The Child Neurology Society is the preeminent non-profit professional association of pediatric neurologists in the United States, Canada, and worldwide. Schor, the University of Rochester Medical Center’s seventh Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, joined the university in 2006.

Feng Vankee Lin, assistant professor of Nursing, and Rajeev Raizada, assistant professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, have been awarded a Collaborative Pilot Award in Health Analytics from the Goergen Institute for Data Science.

The one-year project will use big data in an effort to develop an algorithm for predicting Alzheimer’s disease. The project will analyze large brain-imaging datasets and use multiple machine-learning approaches to uncover diagnostic patterns and create a more reliable predictive model for detecting Alzheimer’s disease.

“It will help initiate a new research area focusing on neuroimaging methodology development in relation to Alzheimer’s disease,” said Lin.

The award includes a $35,000 grant for the project, which runs from Feb. 1, 2017 to Jan. 31, 2018.

Located in Wegmans Hall, the Goergen Institute for Data Science is a hub for interdisciplinary data science research. Its work in health analytics – using data to predict individual health outcomes – includes advances in using data to help analyze the brain more effectively and sharing the data with other researchers to discover more ways to improve outcomes for patients.

In a move that reflects the importance of our expanding outpatient network, Shawn Newlands, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A, has been appointed to the newly created role of Associate Chief Medical Officer for URMC’s ambulatory care enterprise.

“In many ways, this role formalizes and expands the successful work Shawn already does as chair of URMFG’s Clinical Operations Committee, where he has helped build a solid framework for faculty input and oversight of guidelines, policies and other decisions that impact the delivery of patient care in our ambulatory settings,” said Michael F. Rotondo, M.D., F.A.C.S., CEO of URMFG. “As a proven leader who builds consensus and finds the middle ground amid disparate views, he will be a focused and effective guide for our ambulatory enterprise.”

Major Step toward Longer-Lasting HIV Treatment

A drug developed at the University of Rochester Medical Center extends the effectiveness of multiple HIV therapies by unleashing a cell’s own protective machinery on the virus. The finding, published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, is an important step toward the creation of long-acting HIV drugs that could be administered once or twice per year, in contrast to current HIV treatments that must be taken daily.

The drug, called URMC-099, was developed in the laboratory of UR scientist Harris A. (“Handy”) Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D. When combined with “nanoformulated” versions of two commonly used anti-HIV drugs (also called antiretroviral drugs), URMC-099 lifts the brakes on a process called autophagy.

Normally, autophagy allows cells to get rid of intracellular “trash,” including invading viruses. In HIV infection, the virus prevents cells from turning on autophagy; one of the many tricks it uses to survive. When the brake on autophagy is lifted, cells are able to digest any virus that remains after treatment with antiretroviral therapy, leaving cells free of virus for extended periods of time.

Harris A. (“Handy”) Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D.

“This study shows that URMC-099 has the potential to reduce the frequency of HIV therapy, which would eliminate the burden of daily treatment, greatly increase compliance and help people better manage the disease,” said Gelbard, professor and director of UR’s Center for Neural Development and Disease, who has studied HIV/AIDS for the past 25 years. The finding builds on previous research that Gelbard conducted with Howard E. Gendelman, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology/Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Liz Romanski, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, will serve as President of the Rochester Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience for the 2017-2108 term.

The Chapter is involved in a number of activities designed to strengthen Neuroscience research, education, and outreach in the Rochester area. In addition to Dr. Romanski, the Chapter's current leadership council includes Secretary/Treasurer Chris Holt, Faculty Councilor Amy Kiernan, Past Presidents Krystel Huxlin and Doug Portman, Postdoctoral Councilor Sarah Heilbronner, Graduate Student Councilor Heather Natola, and Administrative Coordinator Ania Dworzanski.

Congratulations Liz!!

A study led by Jessica Cantlon, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences, suggests that primates have the ability to distinguish large and small quantities of objects, irrespective of the surface area they appear to occupy.

Adults and children in the US, adults from a 'low numeracy' tribe in Bolivia and rhesus monkeys ALL possessed the ability to distinguish between large and small quantities of objects, regardless of the surface area they occupy. This ability is likely a shared evolutionary trait, according to a study. The nonverbal visual tests could be used in assessing early math education in young children.

Congratulations to Julianne Feola on completing her PhD degree on Monday, January 17, 2017. Julie was a student in Dr. Gail Johnson lab. She wrote a PhD thesis on The Role of Astrocytic Transglutaminase 2 in mediating Cellular Viability Processes.

Best luck, Julie!

David Williams, Ph.D.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have developed a new imaging technique that could revolutionize how eye health and disease are assessed. The group is first to be able to make out individual cells at the back of the eye that are implicated in vision loss in diseases like glaucoma. They hope their new technique could prevent vision loss via earlier diagnosis and treatment for these diseases.

In a study highlighted in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ethan A. Rossi, Ph.D., assistant professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, describes a new method to non-invasively image the human retina, a layer of cells at the back of the eye that are essential for vision. The group, led by David Williams, Ph.D., Dean for Research in Arts, Sciences, and Engineering and the William G. Allyn Chair for Medical Optics at the University of Rochester, was able to distinguish individual retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which bear most of the responsibility of relaying visual information to the brain.

A new study sheds light on changes in the brain that may explain why young infants who are placed in an orphanage or foster care often struggle with social relationships later in life.

The findings, which were published in the journal Developmental Psychobiology, come from a team of researchers led by Julie Fudge, M.D., with the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neuroscience. The scientists revisited data from a study involving monkeys that took place more than a decade ago at the University of Pittsburgh and was designed to observe the behaviors of newborns that were separated from their biological mothers and raised by another group of females. The original study noted that these monkeys differed in their social interactions -- such as grooming, huddling together, and normal aggression -- compared to those that were raised by their mothers.

Like humans, monkey's brains are not fully developed at birth and the animals are dependent upon the nurturing of caregivers for many months early in life. Fudge and her colleagues wanted to see if there could find an association between the absence of a primary caregiver and biological changes in the brain that could explain the lasting social impairment observed in the monkeys.