Prenatal Iron Deficiency Leaves Lasting Changes in the Developing Brain
University of Rochester Medicine researchers find new evidence that changes in the brain caused by iron deficiency during pregnancy cannot be fully rescued with supplements.
Stories
Becoming a Yellowjacket: Turning a Summer Neuroscience Experience into a Degree
For six weeks each summer, students from the Rochester City School District enter neuroscience research labs at the University of Rochester as scientists. Paired with a bench mentor, they are ...
A Gallery: Neuroscientists in Color
Explore how art and neuroscience come together in this inspiring gallery that includes original art and personal narratives from researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the ...
Q&A with Chigusa Kurumada, PhD
Chigusa Kurumada, PhD, is an associate professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) at the University of Rochester. Kurumada first came to the University for her postdoctoral training. She has a ...
Postdoc Spotlight: Minju Kim, PhD
Minju Kim, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory (CNL) at the School of Medicine & Dentistry. Her research focuses on this intersection of cognition and motor ...
Frequently Distracted? Science Says, Blame It on Your Brain Rhythms
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester find that you may not be as focused as you think. A new study discovers our attention shifts multiple times each ...
The Interstate of Science: Merging Neuroscience and AI
Enter a world of possibilities: generate ideas, get answers, have conversations, create endless images. Often, artificial intelligence or large language models, like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, can ...
Faculty Q&A: Tanzil Arefin, PhD
Tanzil Arefin, PhD, is an assistant professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center, whose research focuses on developing imaging biomarkers and computational tools to unravel ...
Student Spotlight: Lia Calcines-Rodríguez
Lia Calcines-Rodríguez, a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, works in the lab of M. Kerry O’Banion, MD, PhD. Her research investigates sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease. She ...
Brain Immune Cells May Drive More Damage in Females than Males with Alzheimer’s
New research led by researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience discovered that the immune cells in the brain, known as microglia, act differently in the male and female Alzheimer’s ...
A Look Back: URochester Neuroscience in 2025
The professional and research advancements of the faculty and students at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester were inspiring in 2025. Inside, you will find some of ...
University of Rochester research featured at annual Society for Neuroscience Conference
Dozens of faculty members, researchers, postdoctoral trainees, and students from programs including Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Science, the Center for Translational Neuromedicine, Immunology, ...
Faculty Q&A: Sunday Francis, PhD
The assistant professor of Neuroscience, researches transdiagnostic symptoms (TMS), like compulsivity, of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). She aims to impact individuals regardless of their ...
Student Spotlight: Emma Strawderman
Emma Strawderman, an MD/PhD candidate in the Medical Science Training Program, works in the Translational Brain Mapping Program. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of ...
Team Science Showcase: Cracking the Code of Chronic Pain
When tackling a complex problem like chronic pain, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates affects more than 50 million adults in the United States, researchers from a myriad ...
Research Hints at the Potential of Pain Relief with CBD
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester effectively deliver CBD to the brains of mice for neuropathic pain relief with no adverse side effects.
Sex and Age Shape Progression of Batten Disease, Brainwave Study Finds
Researchers from the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that male and female brains show different responses as Batten disease progresses and have found a ...
Millisecond Windows of Time May Be Key to How We Hear, Study Finds
What happens when you listen to speech at a different speed? Neuroscientists thought that your brain may turn up its processing speed as well. But it turns out that at least the auditory part of the ...
Unraveling the Web of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain affects more than 50 million U.S. adults, but it is largely measured through subjective scales. Researchers at the University of Rochester are advancing transdisciplinary approaches to ...
Faculty Q&A: Elise Piazza, PhD
Elise Piazza, PhD, is an assistant professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Neuroscience at the University of Rochester. She completed her undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science and Music at ...
Postdoctoral Spotlight: Luca Franchini, PhD
Luca Franchini, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Orlandi Lab at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Franchini received his degree in Pharmacy from the University of Bologna, in Italy, and ...
Brain’s Immune Cells Key to Wiring the Adolescent Brain
Making a smoothie, going for an evening walk, or having empathy for a loved one are all examples of executive functions that are controlled by the brain’s frontal cortex. This area of the brain goes ...
Scientists Reveal How Senses Work Together in the Brain
It has long been understood that experiencing two senses simultaneously, like seeing and hearing, can lead to improved responses relative to those seen when only one sensory input is experienced by ...
Researchers Find Brain Immune Cells Regulate Vision Health
During most eye infections or injuries, neutrophils, immune cells found in the blood, are usually the first line of defense. However, researchers at the Flaum Eye Institute and Del Monte Institute ...
Researchers Find “Forever Chemicals” Impact the Developing Male Brain
“Forever chemicals” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used in consumer and industrial products for the better part of a century, but do not break down in the natural ...
The Long Game: Unraveling the Adolescent Brain
More than 11,000 kids across America are providing critical information about biological and behavioral brain development, including in Rochester.
Faculty Q&A: John Onukwufor, PhD
John Onukwufor, PhD, is an assistant professor of Pharmacology and Physiology and Environmental Medicine. His research project investigates the role of metal neurotoxicity and mitochondrial ...
Student Spotlight: Yue Guzhang
Yue Guzhang is a fourth-year student in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) Program at the University of Rochester. She received her undergraduate degree in BCS from the University. Guzhang works ...
Researchers Find Temporary Anxiety Impacts Learning
A brief episode of anxiety may have a bigger influence on a person’s ability to learn what is safe and what is not.
What New Research Reveals about Autism, Stimming, and Touch
Researchers at the Golisano Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute find new clues to how people with autism process touch.
Faculty Q&A: Karlo J. Lizarraga, MD, MS
Karlo J. Lizarraga, MD, MS, is an associate professor of Neurology and founding director of the Motor Physiology and Neuromodulation Program. He also has appointments in Neuroscience and Neurosurgery.
Student Spotlight: Aaron Huynh
Aaron Huynh is a second-year student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. He received his undergraduate degree in brain and cognitive sciences from the ...
Could Small Repeated Head Hits Cause Major Damage?
Study explores how repetitive blows to the head may lead to lasting brain injuries and how potential treatments and limits could change the course.
Brain Immune Cells May also be From Mars and Venus
Researchers find that microglia function differently in males versus females, potentially having broad implications for how neurological diseases are studied.
That's a 'Myelin Sheath!' Top Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Content in '24
The professional and research advancements of the faculty and students at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester were inspiring in 2024. Inside you will find some of ...
Researchers ‘See’ Vulnerability to Gaming Addiction in the Adolescent Brain
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found that adolescents with more symptoms of gaming addiction showed lower brain activity in the region involved ...
Researchers Uncover Possible New Biomarker for Psychosis Diagnosis
The current standard of care for psychosis is a diagnostic interview, but what if it could be diagnosed before the first symptom emerged? Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at ...
How Carol Kellogg Helped Establish One of the Nation's First Undergraduate Neuroscience Programs
In 1980, Neuroscience became an official major at the University of Rochester. Professor Emeritus Carol Kellogg helped make the major official after noticing the students were making independent ...
Faculty Q & A: Jamie Capal, MD
Jamie Capal, MD, is the division chief of Child Neurology, Frederick A. Horner, MD, Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Pediatric Neurology and has an appointment in Neurology, Pediatrics, ...
Student Spotlight: Evan Newbold
Evan Newbold is a fifth-year neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Lafayette College ...
Neuroscience graduate student awarded diversity fellowship
Victoria Popov, a fifth-year neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry recently received a prestigious diversity award from the National Institute ...
University of Rochester brain research featured at Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago
Several dozen Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester faculty, researchers, and trainees from programs including Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Science, Center for ...
Research finds neurons look different in children with autism
Neuronal measurements could provide new insight into diagnosis & therapeutic interventions for autism
A revolutionary map of the fly brain could change how we study our brains
Researchers have developed a groundbreaking new resource—the FlyWire Connectome, described today in the journal Nature—that maps every neuron and synaptic connection in the central brain of ...
Building on a legacy of intellectual and developmental disabilities research and care
The foundational work of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) related care and research has been underway at the University and Medical Center for more than a half-century. Clinicians ...
Connection speed in the brain may impact how people with autism process visual illusions
Researchers are finding the process in our brain that allows us to see these visual distinctions may not be happening the same way in the brains of children with autism spectrum disorder. They may be ...
Golisano Makes $50 Million Commitment to Build the New Golisano IDD Institute
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and civic leader B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano has made a historic $50 million commitment to build the Golisano Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute at the ...
Can ketones enhance cognitive function and protect brain networks?
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have identified mechanisms in the brain’s hippocampal network that are rescued by ketones. These findings build ...
Hearing, balance & the brain
The University of Rochester is among the top 20 institutions in the United States in funding for hearing—and balance—related research from the National Institute on Deafness and Communication ...
Batten Research Day fosters collaboration and growth
The University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Research Center (UR-IDDRC) and the University of Rochester Batten Center (URBC) hosted a Batten Research Day in March. The event brought ...
Faculty Q&A: Manoela Fogaça, PhD
Manoela V. Fogaça, PhD, is an assistant professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). She received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at ...
Postdoctoral Spotlight: Daniel Guest, PhD
Daniel Guest, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Laurel Carney, PhD, at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and his ...
Postdoctoral Spotlight: Dana Boebinger, PhD
Dana Boebinger, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow working in the lab of Samuel Norman-Haignere, PhD, at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She received her doctoral degree from Harvard ...
URMC Biomedical Genetics Professor named a fellow of the AAAS
Douglas Portman, PhD, holds the Donald M. Foster, MD Professorship in Biomedical Genetics and is a professor of Neuroscience and Biology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, was named a ...
A Match Made; Medical Students Learn Where They Will Train During Nationwide Ceremony
Medical students at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and across the country learned where they will train as residents during the annual Match Day ceremony.
Turns out—male roundworms are picky when choosing a mate, new research finds
The Portman lab at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester discovered that the male roundworms use pheromones and touch signals to determine the sex, age, nutritional ...
Transforming Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research
The University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center is transforming the landscape of exploration.
Student Spotlight: John Gonzalez-Amoretti
John Gonzalez-Amoretti is a 4th year Neuroscience graduate student. He is currently working in the lab of Adam Snyder, PhD, in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at the University of ...
Faculty Q&A: Archan Ganguly, PhD
Archan Ganguly, PhD, is an assistant professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His research aims to understand how proteins essential for synaptic communication between ...
Researchers find possible neuromarker for ‘juvenile-onset’ Batten disease
New research suggests an easy-to-measure brain process may be a target or biomarker in measuring treatment outcomes in clinical trials for patients with Batten disease.
Researchers identify path to prevent cognitive decline after radiation
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester find that microglia—the brain’s immune cells—can trigger cognitive deficits after radiation exposure and may be ...
Researchers find neurons work as a team to process social interactions
Researchers have discovered that a part of the brain associated with working memory and multisensory integration, may also play an important role in how the brain processes social cues.
Postdoctoral Spotlight: Erin Bojanek, PhD, BS (’14)
Erin Bojanek, PhD, BS (’14), is an instructor in the Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab.
Pathway program proves access can cultivate scientists
NEUROCITY alumni pursue research at the University of Rochester following the ten-week summer program that puts undergraduate students from historically marginalized groups in labs across the ...
Wired for research
A biomedical engineering student explores how the brain processes speech syntax—and discovers the benefits of conducting research as an undergraduate.
Postdoctoral Spotlight: Allison Murphy, PhD
Allison Murphy, PhD (’23), a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Farran Briggs, PhD, received a doctoral degree in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Her ...
Faculty Q&A: Lars A. Ross, PhD
Lars A. Ross, PhD, is a research assistant professor of Imaging Sciences and Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He came to University of Rochester Medical Center in late ...
Protecting the vulnerable, informing the future
This is not another story about COVID. This is a story about how a group of scientists—including a neuroscientist, virologist, and nephrologist—and school leadership rolled up their sleeves, stepped ...
URMC researcher receives $8.3 million to study chronic pain and the brain
Understanding the role of chronic pain in the brain could transform treatment and care for a condition that inflicts more than 20 percent of US adults. An associate professor of Psychiatry at URMC ...
AI helps show how the brain’s fluids flow
A new artificial intelligence-based technique for measuring fluid flow around the brain’s blood vessels could have big implications for developing treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
A chance observation finds potential hearing biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found where plaques are found in the brain may impact hearing in Alzheimer's disease.
Research finds prediction may be key to eye-and-hand coordination
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that the ability to visually predict movement may be an important part of the ability to make a great ...
Researchers find possible target for treating neuropsychiatric disorders in teens
The brain continuously changes during childhood and throughout adolescence. The onset of neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia often begins during young adulthood. Dysfunction of the dopamine ...
Ania Majewska, PhD, named co-director of UR-IDDRC
Ania Majewska, PhD, professor of Neuroscience, joins John Foxe, PhD, as co-director of the University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (UR-IDDRC).
Research continues to rule out brain’s immune system as key to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester continue to find evidence that the brain’s immune system may not be the culprit behind fetal alcohol spectrum ...
Researchers find rhythmic brain activity helps to maintain temporary memories
New research shows that rhythmic brain activity is key to temporarily maintaining important information in memory. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of ...
Student Spotlight: Mark Osabutey, MBChB
Mark Osabutey, MBChB, is a 2nd-year Neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Osabutey has a medical degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and ...
Possible ‘steps’ to revealing super-agers
On the quest for the proverbial fountain of youth, scientists have long looked for evidence of super-agers—people whose brain ages slower than their body. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for ...
The stars in the brain may be information regulators
URMC researcher explores how astrocytes may be a key player in the brain’s ability to process external and internal information simultaneously. He argues research on these cells is necessary to ...
Tearing with Tradition: Aspiring Doctors Learn Where They Will Train on Match Day
At noon on Friday, March 17, aspiring doctors from across the country opened envelopes. Inside, students learned which institution they will train at as residents. It was the annual Match Day ...
Iron & the brain: Where and when neurodevelopmental disabilities may begin during pregnancy
The cells that make up the human brain begin developing long before the physical shape of the brain has formed. This early organizing of a network of cells plays a major role in brain health ...
Small, involuntary eye movements help us see a stable world
Involuntary, fixational eye movements play a bigger role in vision than researchers previously thought.
Can hearing loss be reversed? Research reveals clues that could regrow the cells that help us hear
The most common cause of hearing loss is progressive because these hair cells—the primary cells to detect sound waves—cannot regenerate if damaged or lost. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for ...
Wiggles & wings: The model systems transforming neuroscience
Genetic model organisms are truly invaluable to the field of neuroscience. Many of the discoveries made using C. elegans and Drosophila apply throughout the animal kingdom, and this research has led ...
Student Spotlight: Johanna Fritzinger
Johanna Fritzinger is a fourth-year Neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Fritzinger graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a BS in Electrical ...
Faculty Q&A – Peter Shrager, PhD
Peter Shrager, PhD, is a professor of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). In 1971, Shrager came to URMC to work in what was then the ...
Researchers identify neurons that "learn" to smell a threat
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience have found new clues to how the olfactory sensory system aids in threat assessment and have found neurons that “learn” if a smell is a threat. ...
New grant will use virtual reality to understand trauma and the brain
Understanding how experience and exposure to trauma changes the brain could improve diagnosis and targeted care for conditions like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Benjamin ...
Researchers reveal how trauma changes the brain
Researchers have found exposure to traumatic events may physically change the brain, including the mechanism used for learning and survival. These findings could significantly advance future ...
A serendipitous discovery and the choreographed dance of fragile X research
Fragile X syndrome is the most common known single-gene cause of inherited IDDs, including autism. Scientists know the misstep in this syndrome is in the gene responsible for making a protein ...
Student Spotlight: MaKenna Cealie
MaKenna Cealie is a fourth year in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD). The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ...
Faculty Q&A: Emily Knight
Emily Knight, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Neuroscience and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Her research aims to understand neural mechanisms of sensory ...
Neuroscience students and post-doc honored at ceremony to kick-off academic year
The Awards and Philosophy Meeting at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry kicked off the 2022-2023 academic year. During the ceremony a postdoctoral associate and a number of ...
The prose of Dr. Seuss shines a light on how the brain processes speech
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience have expanded the understanding of how the brain is engaged during complex audiovisual speech perception.
Mild traumatic brain injury increases risk of behavioral and emotional problems in kids
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience have found that kids who experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI), even a mild one, have more emotional and behavioral problems than kids who ...
The White Coat Ceremony: 110 Students Mark the Beginning of Medical School
The incoming class of medical students at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry receive their white coats in a traditional ceremony.
Many minds, many methods, one brain
The hum of a treadmill in the distance greets you stepping off the elevator into the Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory at the University of Rochester. The ...
Postdoctoral Spotlight: Aaron Nidiffer, Ph.D.
Aaron Nidiffer, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Edmund Lalor, Ph.D. His research focuses on how the brain interprets visual speech and simultaneously processes two different types of ...
The brains of children with autism may not always ‘see’ body language
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that children with autism spectrum disorder may not always process body movements effectively, ...
Majewska honored by NINDS for exceptional mentorship
Ania Majewska, Ph.D., has been named a 2022 Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship awardee by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for her dedication to superior ...