University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSFScientists at the Gladstone Institutes have for the first time transformed skin cells — with a single genetic factor — into cells that develop on their own into an interconnected, functional network of brain cells.
Chronic pain, by definition, is difficult to manage, but a new study by UCSF scientists shows how a cell therapy might one day be used not only to quell some common types of persistent and difficult-to-treat pain, but also to cure the conditions that give rise to them.
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have unraveled a process by which depletion of a specific protein in the brain contributes to the memory problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease. These findings provide insights into the disease’s development and may lead to new therapies that could benefit the millions of people worldwide.
<p>The longstanding mystery of how selective hearing works — how people can tune in to a single speaker while tuning out their crowded, noisy environs — is solved this week in the journal <em>Nature</em> by two scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).</p>
A new brain cancer vaccine tailored to individual patients by using material from their own tumors has proven effective in a multicenter phase 2 clinical trial at extending their lives by several months or longer. The patients suffered from recurrent glioblastoma multiform — which kills thousands of Americans every year.
A new technique for analyzing brain images offers the possibility of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the rate of progression and physical path of many degenerative brain diseases, report scientists at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.
<p>Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner will talk about his prize-winning research about prions during the UCSF Osher Mini Medical School for the Public on April 16.</p>
Scientists at the UCSF-affiliated Gladstone Institutes have enhanced the understanding of how a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease keeps young brains healthy, but can damage them later in life — suggesting new research avenues for treating this devastating disease.
A new study raises hopes that physicians may be able to use MRI to predict the course of dementias and that researchers may use these predicted outcomes to determine whether a new treatment is working.
A group of scientists at UCSF has discovered that a tiny molecule in the fly’s brain govern the behavior of males who go on a drinking binge after female fruit flies reject their sexual advances.
Neurologist Bruce Miller, MD, director of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, participated in a roundtable discussion on Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia on the "Charlie Rose Show."
Dogs with spinal cord injuries may soon benefit from an experimental drug being tested by researchers at UCSF and Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences — work that they hope will one day help people with similar injuries.
An experimental drug called Ocrelizumab has shown promise in a Phase 2 clinical trial involving 220 people with multiple sclerosis (MS), an often debilitating, chronic autoimmune disease that affects an increasing number of people in North America.
Two-thirds of people with severe and otherwise untreatable epilepsy were completely cured of their frequent seizures after undergoing neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, according to a new study that examined 143 of these patients two years after their operations.
Patients diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) had over twice the risk of developing dementia within seven years after diagnosis compared to those without TBI, in a study of more than 280,000 older veterans conducted by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UCSF.
<p>UCSF cognitive neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley has used functional brain imaging and EEG studies to discover that older adults fare worse than younger adults at remembering following distractions. He hopes to improve their performance with cognitive training, using a newly developed video game.</p>
<p>Each year, scores of soldiers wounded by explosives suffer from debilitating nerve injuries that render their arms and legs useless. Kim’s research, performed at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco Veterans Affairs hospital, has led to development of artificial nerve grafts to accelerate healing of these injuries.</p>