The Nobel-Winning Discoveries Illuminating How We Sense the World
How David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian found the molecules in our bodies that sense heat, cold, touch, and pain – and transformed sensory neuroscience.
University of California San Francisco
Give to UCSFHow David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian found the molecules in our bodies that sense heat, cold, touch, and pain – and transformed sensory neuroscience.
In a new study of Alzheimer’s disease, UCSF reserachers have discovered that a relatively unstudied form of the tau protein associated with neurodegeneration may be a means for better diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
In a new study of long COVID, UCSF researchers identified biomarkers present at elevated levels that may persist for many months in the blood of study participants who had long COVID with neuropsychiatric symptoms.
After an age-related spinal injury suddenly worsened, Angie Jacobson could barely stand or walk. She chose to undergo an "awake spine surgery" at UCSF, leaving the hospital less than 24 hours later.
When exploring a new environment, mice make use of a unique long-distance connection in the brain that prompts them to pay attention to the most salient features of the environment, according to new UCSF research.
For 29 years, Rashetta Higgins was wracked by epileptic seizures. UCSF neurologists used a pioneering imaging technique to spot what was triggering them and then removed that region from her brain. Now Rashetta is living a seizure-free life.
In a study, UCSF neurologist William Seeley, MD, and colleagues identified two key moments in the natural history of Alzheimer’s, pointing to a window of opportunity for treatment with amyloid-lowering drugs.
Brain tumor patients survived longer when treated aggressively with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Now, a UCSF study underscores the critical role of genomic profiling in diagnosing and grading brain tumors.
This study is believed to be the first to report the rate of dementia in Native Americans using a nationwide sample, the researchers stated in their paper.
A new UCSF-led study showed that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19, and have a history of certain psychiatric conditions, have a heightened risk of infection – a finding that may be related to impaired immune response.
Scientists at UC San Francisco and Imperial College London found that psilocybin fosters greater connections between different regions of the brain in depressed people, freeing them up from long-held patterns of rumination and excessive self-focus.
The findings contradict the common notion that Alzheimer’s patients sleep during the day to make up for a bad night of sleep and point toward potential therapies to help these patients feel more awake.
Daytime napping among older people is a normal part of aging – but it may also foreshadow Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
Not everyone needs 8 hours of sleep, say UCSF researchers. Some lucky people are “elite sleepers,” packing sleep’s benefits into 4 to 6 hours a night. Their genes may hold clues to how efficient sleep can fend off dementia.
A first-of-its-kind study showed that a prenatal mindfulness program linked to healthier stress response in babies as well as less depression and better glucose tolerance in mothers.
55% of seniors with dementia take more than six medications even though most have good health. However, a UCSF study showed that 87% are willing to cut down if their doctors agree.
Concussion may have a long-term impact on cognition, a new UCSF-led study finds. Fourteen percent of patients had "poor cognitive outcome" one year post injury, with car collisions being the leading cause of concussion.
UCSF researchers have developed a digital tool to flag early reading challenges that may lead to dyslexia, and it could be in widespread use in California public schools by 2023. Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing $10 million in the state budget for the project.
A UCSF-led study found a new drug for ALS that shows to slow or temporarily stall the progression of ALS in a select group of patients, with three times as many patients' disease slowing compared to those who received a placebo.
A new “atlas” of every cell in the brain’s blood vessels reveals that some strokes are caused by immune cells interacting with arteries, in a new study by UCSF researchers.
UCSF researchers used multiple drug analogs to test CSF1R inhibition in transgenic mice with tauopathy, and observed suppressed biomarkers of neurodegeneration, rescued aberrant behavior, and extended survival in female mice.
Many patients with COVID-19 develop brain fog and other cognitive symptoms months later. Their cerebrospinal fluid may hold clues to why this is happening.
Human vocal sounds have the same rhythmic quality as the sounds made by many mammals, songbirds, and even some species of fish. UCSF researchers have found the brainstem circuit responsible, and it's connected breath control.
UCSF researchers show how physical activity protects cognition by altering brain chemistry that maintains synapses, especially for the elderly.
Brain maps and developmental outcomes differ greatly in newborns with two of the most common brain injury types, which may have implications for early intervention.