News
Adolescence Is Not Simply a Period of Vulnerability, but a Window of Opportunity: New Insights into Adolescent Emotion from Dr. Heidi Meyer
Assistant Professor Heidi Meyer, Psychological & Brain Sciences, explores how safety learning shapes the adolescent brain Neuroscience wasn’t where Heidi Meyer expected to land. Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, she was drawn early on to big questions about being human: What makes us who we are? Why do we do... More
Researchers Develop New Tool to See How Different Brain Cell Types Work Together
Brains are composed of cell types that perform different roles in computation and are differentially affected by certain psychiatric disorders or drugs. Without a deep understanding of how cell types orchestrate the overall activity patterns, we cannot develop the next generation of therapies.
Songbird Brains Can Generate New Neurons. Can We Help Human Brains Do the Same?
In a study that looked at the bird’s brain in unprecedented detail, researchers at Boston University uncovered new insights into a mechanism known as neurogenesis—the birth, migration, and maturation of neurons—that may help the brain learn, add new skills, and restore and repair itself.
Two Boston University Researchers Elected AAAS Fellows
Alice Cronin-Golomb’s research addresses diseases of aging, while Plamen Ch. Ivanov is mapping the interactions between diverse organ systems in the body; both have been honored as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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... More
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... More
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... More
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... More
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... More