Michael Merzenich
In the introductory post last month to his "
On the Brain" blog, UCSF neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, PhD, wrote that the goal of the new blog is "to educate ourselves (you, and me) about the brain science underlying brain health," focusing on three "grand subjects":
1) a "No Spin Zone" on the subject of brain fitness, the neurology and psychology of normal and pathological aging, and what can be done about it;
2) the brain origins of neurological and psychiatric impairments and disease, from the special perspective of neuroplasticity; and
3) the neuroscience of child development, and of a wide variety of problems that limit the achievements of kids.
Merzenich also invites those "in the know" to help feed information to him through the blog in order to enrich the effort.
At UCSF, Merzenich is the Francis A. Sooy, M.D., Chair in Otolaryngology; professor in the departments of Otolaryngology and Physiology; and a member of the Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience.
Merzenich's pioneering studies over three decades have revealed the capacity of the brain to rewire itself in response to new conditions, even during adulthood and aging. And in developing the first neural prosthesis - the cochlear implant, in the early 1980s - and software programs for language and learning disabilities in the mid 1990s, he has demonstrated that the brain has the capacity to actively engage in a remediation, or retraining, process. His current research focuses on developing intensive plasticity-based mental and physical training programs, targeting schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, functional losses in normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, acquired movement disorders, autism, and learning, language and reading impairments in children.
Related Links:
On the Brain
UCSF Blogs
Harnessing the Brain's Plasticity Key to Treating Neurological Damage
UCSF News Release, February 15, 2007
W. M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative Neuroscience
