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 ...
Stories
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 ...
Walking gives the brain a ‘step-up’ in function for some
It has long been thought that when walking is combined with a task – both suffer. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found that this is not always ...
How the brain interprets motion while in motion
New findings about how the brain interprets sensory information may have applications for treating brain disorders and designing artificial intelligence.
New research finds the risk of psychotic-like experiences can start in childhood
Research has long focused on the impact environmental and socio-economic factors – including income disparity, family poverty, and air pollution – have on increasing a person’s risk of developing ...
Student Spotlight: Victoria Popov
Victoria Popov is a second year in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Popov graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with an M.S. in professional ...
Diverse minds and determined hearts make change: Forging equitability in Neuroscience
The Neuroscience Diversity Commission has a simple but powerful purpose – to fundamentally change the bench. The group was formed in 2020 and has been meeting bi-weekly since. Made up of mostly ...
Faculty Q&A: Samuel Norman-Haignere
Samuel Norman-Haignere, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Neuroscience, and Biostatistics and Computational Biology. He received his B.A. in Cognitive Science from Yale University and completed his ...
The art of smell: Research suggests the brain processes smell both like a painting and a symphony
New research suggest the brain has multiple responses to representing a smell. In one strategy, the brain uses a snapshot, like a painting or a photograph, at a given moment to capture the essential ...
A key to restoring sight may be held in a drug that treats alcoholism
The pathway that the drug disulfiram blocks to treat alcoholism was very similar to the pathway that’s hyper-activated in degenerative blindness.
Researcher develops new methods to understand how the brain responds to sounds – including singing
New research has identified neurons in the brain that ‘light up’ to the sound of singing, but do not respond to any other type of music.
Researchers find new clues in the brain linking pain and food
It has long been known that there is an association between food and pain, as people with chronic pain often struggle with their weight. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience may ...
Researchers restore brain immune system function after prenatal exposure to environmental toxin
New research shows that exposure to the industrial byproduct TCDD in utero could cause the brain’s immune system to go array later in life, damaging important brain circuits, and potentially giving ...
Researchers provide insight into how the brain multitasks while walking
New research turns the old idiom about not being able to walk and chew gum on its head. Scientists with the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have shown that the ...
On impact: Predicting prolonged concussion recovery and the risk of repeated head hits
The Bazarian and Merchant-Borna laboratories in the Emergency Medicine Department are dedicated to gaining a better understanding of concussions. Especially in people who take many months to ...
Q&A with Samuel Mackenzie, M.D., Ph.D.
Samuel Mackenzie, M.D., Ph.D., joined the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience in July 2021 as a senior instructor in Neurology and Neuroscience.
Student Spotlight: Bryan Redmond
Bryan Redmond is a second year in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and fourth year in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
“Education is key.” Neuroscientist Nathan A. Smith, Ph.D. ('13), returns in leadership role
Nathan A. Smith, M.S. (’10), Ph.D. (’13), is returning to the University of Rochester as an associate professor of Neuroscience and associate dean for Equity and Inclusion in Research and Research ...
Changes in the brain hinder addiction recovery in people who are HIV-positive
Researchers with the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at URMC are studying how the brain puts the 'brakes' on behavior. That may be different in individuals recovering from cocaine addiction and ...
URMC researchers reveal how the brain understands one voice in a noisy crowd
Researchers in the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience find that the brain is taking an extra step when listening to one speaker in a crowd, and not taking that step with the other words swirling ...
URMC & RIT faculty awarded patent for gene transfer technology that could transform cancer therapies
Researchers at the University of Rochester Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience and Rochester Institute of Technology have received a U.S. patent for technology designed to accelerate development of ...
Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience pilot grant program makes institute history
The 2021 pilot program made history by awarding more than $900-thousand to 20 researchers from eight different departments across the University of Rochester and the Medical Center.
Anxiety cues found in the brain despite safe environment
Researchers used a virtual-reality environment to understand the impact anxiety has on the brain and how brain regions interact with one another to shape behavior.
Multiple sclerosis drug improves memory in mice modeling Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience found that glatiramer acetate, a prescription drug currently used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), improved memory in a mouse ...
Seeing the future of science and care at the Center for Visual Science
For nearly 60 years, the Center for Visual Science (CVS) at the University of Rochester has been a hub for vision science, bringing researchers together who have transformed our understanding of ...
Student Spotlight: Sean Lydon
Sean Lydon is a first-year in Neuroscience Graduate Program (NGP) whose research interests lie in neurodegenerative diseases. He served in the United States Army from 2011-2014 before pursuing ...
Dr. Jonathan Mink receives Child Neurology Society’s highest honor
Jonathan W. Mink, M.D., Ph.D., the Frederick A. Horner M.D. Distinguished Professor in Pediatric Neurology and Chief of Child Neurology at URMC, has been awarded the Child Neurology Society’s 2021 ...
Researchers aim to understand COVID-19 in children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience are working to better understand how COVID-19 impacts student and staff in schools that serve students with IDDs.
Del Monte affiliated members honored at ceremony to kick-off academic year
The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry is kicked off the 2021-2022 academic year this week, and a number of Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience members were honored.
Endocrinology fellow receives prestigious award to pursue IDD research
Carlos Diaz-Balzac, M.D., Ph.D., an endocrinology fellow, was recently awarded The Career Award for Medical Scientists (CAMS) from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
The memory changes of menopause
Menopause can mess with your memory, and a new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center has identified four profiles of cognitive function that may help researchers understand why memory ...
Appetite for survival: Brain signal alerts roundworms to changing food supply
Microscopic roundworms may hold the key to understanding what is happening in the brain when the instinct of an animal changes in order to survive.
Lab access: Diversifying the bench
Two new pipeline programs aim to give underrepresented minority students access to neuroscience research.
Silence and sound: The perfect timing to preserve hearing
URMC researchers found a mix of sound and silence may be a key in slowing hearing loss when played over an extended period of time.
Q & A with Jennetta Hammond, Ph.D.
Jennetta Hammond, Ph.D., joined the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience as an assistant professor in Neurology and Neuroscience in July 2021. Her research aims to understand interactions between the ...