Adolescence Is Not Simply a Period of Vulnerability, but a Window of Opportunity: New Insights into Adolescent Emotion from Dr. Heidi Meyer
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Researchers identify new dopamine signal that may help the brain steer us in the right direction
A Boston University-led research team has discovered a dopamine signal in the brain that helps determine whether you are moving toward or away from a goal potentially shedding new light on how the brain uses visual information to guide behavior. The study recently published in Nature examined behavior in mice to show that when they encounter visual cues, dopamine in the striatum located in the basal […]
Looking for Answers to Alzheimer’s Mysteries
More than 55 million people worldwide live with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. About 2% have a rare, inherited form that can appear as early as a person’s 30s — and like all forms of Alzheimer’s, it has no cure. For more than two decades, Boston University researcher Yakeel Quiroz has been working to uncover the genetic […]
A Solution to the Cocktail Party Problem—Hidden in the Brain
Imagine you’re trying to have a conversation with a friend at a loud party. To pick out what they’re saying, your brain has to focus on their voice and filter out all the other party sounds—the chatter, the music. That’s the cocktail party problem: the challenge of isolating a single sound in a noisy environment. […]
Two Boston University Bioengineers Win Prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships
Research of Boston University’s Brian DePasquale and Michael Economo offers hope to people who are paralyzed and sheds new light on ALS. Both researchers have won Sloan Research Fellowships — honors awarded to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.
Beyond Weight Loss: BU Researchers Investigate How GLP-1 Drugs Affect the Brain
Drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Zepbound have taken the world by storm, helping millions shed pounds quickly. But as waistlines shrink, researchers are asking a deeper question: What are these drugs doing to our brains? Assistant Professor of Biology Lynne Chantranupong is leading a research team to figure out the long-term neurological effects of GLP-1R agonists—the class […]
Building Mini-Brains, Advancing Big Ideas
Studying cortical organoids within a living organism enables Kate Herrema and her advisors – Professor Anna Devor (BME), Assistant Professor Timothy O’Shea (MSE, BME), and Research Assistant Professor Martin Thunemann (BME)—to model neurodevelopment. This work is also done in close collaboration with Assistant Professor Ella Zeldich (MED). “We can use [this technology] to study healthy human neurodevelopment, and also different neurodevelopmental diseases,” Herrema […]
BU Neuroscientist’s “Riveting Debut” Book Discusses “How to Change a Memory”
BU neuroscientist Steve Ramirez just released his debut book, How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the Past–a mix of personal storytelling and fascinating science that dives into how our memories can be reshaped. Ramirez walks readers through experiments where memories were reactivated or even altered in mice, revealing just how “Silly Putty–like” and flexible […]