Science & Technology

As interviewed by Gabriela Lee

Dr. Xiaomo Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences, a core member of the Center for Neuroscience, and an affiliated faculty at the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine at UC Davis.

(SACRAMENTO) A new study by researchers at UC Davis Health found human brains are getting larger. Study participants born in the 1970s had 6.6% larger brain volumes and almost 15% larger brain surface area than those born in the 1930s.

The researchers hypothesize the increased brain size may lead to an increased brain reserve, potentially reducing the overall risk of age-related dementias.

The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.

(SACRAMENTO) Researchers at UC Davis Health and Kaiser Permanente Division of Research have received a $24 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to continue the Study of Healthy Aging in African Americans (STAR) for an

Jochen Ditterich, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior in the College of Biological Sciences and a core member of the Center for Neuroscience.

Picture this scenario: You and a friend are walking around your neighborhood when you stop at a crosswalk. As you wait, the noises of the world and your internal thoughts all vie for your attention. Pedestrians chatter as cars rumble by when suddenly, you see a motorist nearly hit a bicyclist.   

“Whoa, did you see that?” you say to your friend.  

“I sure did; that was a fully restored 1967 Ford Mustang,” your friend replies, referring to a car separate from the near-traffic collision you almost witnessed. 

(SACRAMENTO) UC Davis Health Professor and neurosurgeon Kia Shahlaie is the new chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery. He will also continue serving as co-director of the Center for Skull Base Surgery.

(SACRAMENTO) Over the past 20 years, more than 60,000 California students with autism and intellectual disabilities have graduated from high school. Most of them are unemployed or under-employed.

UC Davis MIND Institute Associate Director Marjorie Solomon is trying to change that.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, want to even out the differences in size and composition of naturally derived extracellular vesicles, or EVs, to turn them into a scalable and reliable drug platform, not unlike industrially produced medication. 

(SACRAMENTO) UC Davis Health neuroscientist and neuroengineer Sergey Stavisky has received two prestigious awards totaling $3.5 million. The grants will fund research that seeks to restore the speech of stroke survivors and people with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Adapted from the original article by Matt Murphy, published at this link. 

(SACRAMENTO) One day in early 2022, as Haytham Almunir got into his friend’s car to join him for lunch, he noticed the fingers on one of his hands suddenly stiffened and stuck together. He separated them with the other hand, but they immediately stuck back together.

As his friend drove, he asked Almunir questions. Almunir noticed he couldn’t find the words to respond.

“My friend was asking me questions, but I couldn’t answer. When no words were coming, I got really scared,” he said.

(SACRAMENTO) The University of California, Davis has launched the Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics to advance basic knowledge about the mechanisms of psychedelics and translate it into safe and effective treatments for diseases such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, among others.

(SACRAMENTO) Researchers at UC Davis Health can continue their important research into brain health another five years thanks to a prestigious $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging. 

(SACRAMENTO) How we perceive faces depends on the context, but why is that?

Humans experience this phenomenon daily. We look at hundreds of faces and make a judgment.

(DAVIS) The University of California, Davis, is establishing a new center designed to develop ways to prevent long-term brain damage in humans when poisoned by organophosphate chemical nerve agents or pesticides. These organophosphates are a group of human-made chemicals developed for warfare during World War II and then subsequently modified for use as pesticides. They can affect insects and mammals, causing recurrent seizures and nervous system damage.