Boston University

Neuroscience

Photo: This image shows microglia and astrocytes, components of our brain's immune system, in the heat of battle against those beta-amyloid protein plaques, the drivers of the concatenation of events presented above. Being able to study them at this level of detail will allow us to better understand the pathology and, hopefully in the near future, to develop effective therapies against the origin of the disease. Image taken with reflection confocal and/or scanning spectral fluorescence microscope LEICA Stellaris 8. Objective: HCX PL APO 63x/1.30 Glyc W.D. 0.30 mm. Composite made from 43 Z-planes with LASX 3D software and post-processed with FIJI.

Aging Reimagined

Can We Find a Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?

February 21, 2024

Photo: A group tackle of football players. One is wearing a white jersey and uniform and the others are in all black.

CTE

Researchers Are One Step Closer to Diagnosing CTE During Life, Rather Than After Death

February 5, 2024

Photo: An array of brain scans with a text overlay reading "Explain This!"

Listen Now

How Do Memories Work?

February 1, 2024

Collage: (From left to right, top down) Photo: Philadelphia Eagles' C.J. Gardner-Johnson catches a pass during practice at the NFL football team's training facility, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. A Black man wearing a dark green and white Eagles' football uniform and helmet catches a football in his hands, Photo: A flatlay of the iLet Bionic Pancreas, a bionic pancreas approved at the FDA. The device is a black box with a wire attached with two additional attachments, Photo: An unidentified person standing in a generic store pharmacy holds over the counter medicine in the aisle as they try to make a decision, and Photo: A white hands holds up a petri dish holding the yeast candida auris in a laboratory. a Petri dish with speckles of white dots/fungi is shown.

2023 IN REVIEW

What Were BU’s Most-Read Science and Research Stories in 2023?

December 11, 2023

Photo: Two female soccer player, one in a red uniform and the other in blue, jump to head butt a ball flying through the air.

CTE and Sports

Young Amateur Athletes at Risk of CTE, BU Study Finds

August 28, 2023

Photo: A person wearing a burgundy and yellow tackle football uniform and helmet is shown tackling a player in a white and red uniform and helmet tot he ground. The burgundy athlete has their head impacted to the ground as the white player falls on top of them.

Parkinson’s

Playing Football May Increase the Risk for Developing Parkinson’s Disease

August 11, 2023

Collage: Headshots of NSF CAREER Award winners. From top to bottom, left to right: Jessica Simes, Michael Economo, Renato Mancuso, Hadi Nia, and Alyssa Pierson.

CAREER Awards

BU’s 5 NSF Grant Winners Are Changing Conversations in Robotics, Computing, Mass Incarceration, Neurology, and More

June 23, 2023

Photo: Group of American football players mid-game. Team member wearing black football uniforms and helmets are shown as they tackle a player holding the football and waring a white football uniform and helmet.

CTE

The Force of Head Hits Raises Likelihood of CTE

June 21, 2023

Vector Image: A person on a couch with their head in their hands appears frustrated or depressed. They are wearing a red shirt and blue jeans.

Suicide

BU Researchers Identify Brain Marker Indicating Future Suicide Risk

May 15, 2023

Photo: Young American football player in the running back position and wearing a black and white uniform is shown breaking away from an attempted tackle from another young player wearing a blue and white uniform. A third young player is shown in the same blue and white uniform to the right running alongside them.

Football

New BU Study Finds Tackle Football at Young Age Raises Risk for Brain Decline Later

March 6, 2023

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, file photo, Bruce Willis attends the "Motherless Brooklyn" premiere during the 57th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, in New York. People in Mississippi’s capital city are being told to expect downtown street closures and explosions for the filming of an action movie that stars Willis. A bank heist movie called “A Day to Die” has been filming in Jackson in April 2021, with Willis shooting scenes in several places, including a street outside the Governor’s Mansion. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Dementia

What Now for Bruce Willis after Actor’s Recent Dementia Diagnosis?

February 17, 2023

Photo: Zoomed in macro shot of brown ants on a green leaf in front of a bright white background.

Ants

BU’s “Ant Man” Studies Ant Brains

February 16, 2023

Photo: Philadelphia Eagles' C.J. Gardner-Johnson catches a pass during practice at the NFL football team's training facility, Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, in Philadelphia. A Black man wearing a dark green and white Eagles' football uniform and helmet catches a football in his hands.

CTE

BU Finds CTE in Nearly 92 Percent of Ex-NFL Players Studied

February 7, 2023

Photo: Associate director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Center Stephanie McMains (GRS’06), seated, with Arielle Moore (GMS’26) in the Cognitive Neuroimaging Center in CILSE Dec 1. A white woman sits in a chair gesticulating as she sits in front of a table in front of window that shows the fMRI room. A black woman wearing a blue face mask stands behind her listening attentively.

Life Sciences

Neurobiology Class Gets a Peek Inside a Volunteer’s Brain

December 22, 2022

Image: A Modern wire frame mesh design vector illustration of the year "2022". Numbers are depicted with glowing neon blue low polygonal digits on dark blue background. .

2022 in Review

Best of The Brink 2022: 10 Amazing Discoveries and Mind-Blowing Facts

December 12, 2022

ENG’s David Boas (left) has been named the new Metcalf Chair for his transformative neuroscience research, while Ran Cantetti’s prowess in cryptography has earned him the Wang Professorship. Boas photo by Dana J. Quigley. Canetti photo by Cydney Scott

Cybersecurity

Two BU Named Professorships, Last Awarded Decades Ago, Have New Occupants

December 1, 2022

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for the state's U.S. Senate seat. Fetterman agreed to an Oct. 25 televised debate against his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Health & Medicine

Understanding Stroke Recovery as John Fetterman’s Political Future Comes Up for a Vote

November 2, 2022

Photo of Steve Ramirez, a CAS assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, smiling and posing with arms crossed in a white lab. He wears black glasses. and a dark grey collared shirt.

Accolades

BU Neuroscientist Steve Ramirez Given $1.15 Million Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Science Diversity Leadership Award

October 20, 2022

Image: Picture of a memory. Blue dots are positive memory cells, and the red dots are negative memory cells. Dots are shown in a pattern with veins. The memories shown here are located in the hippocampus of a mouse.

Memory Manipulation

Unlocking the Power of Our Emotional Memory

October 3, 2022

Photo of green and orange gliding tree frogs swarming on leaves against a black background.

Research in Photos

From Lovesick Frogs to Music-Making to Mouse Memories, Photo Contest Shows Stunning Breadth of BU Research

September 27, 2022

From Lovesick Frogs to Music-Making to Mouse Memories, Photo Contest Shows Stunning Breadth of BU Research