Center for Neuroscience Content

Charan Ranganath on the Search for Biomarkers to Detect Alzheimer's Disease Risk Early

Soterios J Johnson — June 26, 2023 - 10:49am

UC Davis psychology professor Charan Ranganath discusses how he and his colleagues are working to find biomarkers to help identify people with preclinical Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Earlier detection 鈥� before the brain is significantly damaged 鈥� would allow for more successful interventions and better outcomes.

New Method Tracks How Psychedelics Affect Neurons in Minutes

Andy Fell — August 05, 2024 - 10:22am

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a rapid, noninvasive tool to track the neurons and biomolecules activated in the brain by psychedelic drugs. The protein-based tool, which is called Ca^2+-activated Split-TurboID, or CaST, is described in research published in Nature Methods.

鈥楾he Backdrop鈥� Podcast: The Nature of Memory and Early Signs of Alzheimer鈥檚

Soterios J Johnson — June 28, 2023 - 1:07pm

Scientists at UC Davis are working to identify early indicators to identify people with pre-clinical Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. The hope is that earlier detection 鈥� before the brain is significantly damaged 鈥� would allow for more successful interventions and better outcomes.

Alumna Deb Neff Gives $8M to Biological Sciences

Dave Jones — May 09, 2023 - 2:00pm

Life sciences industry expert Deborah Neff 鈥�76 is giving $8 million to the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences for two endowments, one for the deanship and the other for the Center for Neuroscience for research into Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and other dementias. The gift is the largest by an individual in the college鈥檚 history.

The Nuances of Memory with Charan Ranganath

Andy Fell — February 21, 2023 - 3:04pm

Why does memory fade? Why does it stay?

These questions, among others, occupy the mind of Charan Ranganath, a UC Davis psychology professor in the UC Davis College of Letters and Science and a core faculty member with the Center for Neuroscience. But the transient nature of memory isn鈥檛 just a focal point of Ranganath鈥檚 research. It鈥檚 something that he, like the rest of us, deals with daily.

Bat Brains Organized for Echolocation and Flight

Andy Fell — May 25, 2022 - 11:00am

A new study shows how the brains of Egyptian fruit bats are highly specialized for echolocation and flight, with motor areas of the cerebral cortex that are dedicated to sonar production and wing control. The work by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and UC Berkeley was published May 25 in Current Biology.

2 Science Days: In Person

Dave Jones — February 22, 2022 - 3:53pm

Biodiversity Museum Day and NeuroFest, both held virtually last year, are returning as in-person events the first two weekends in March.

Both programs will follow Campus Ready guidelines pertaining to vaccination status and the Daily Symptom Survey. Masks required. Follow the links in the At a Glance box to see the COVID-19 protocols for each event.

Only NeuroFest requires advance registration; the deadline is March 4.

Hippocampus Is the Brain鈥檚 Storyteller

Andy Fell — September 29, 2021 - 8:25am

People love stories. We find it easier to remember events when they are part of an overarching narrative. But in real life, the chapters of a story don鈥檛 follow smoothly one from another. Other things happen in between. A new brain imaging study from the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis, shows that the hippocampus is the brain鈥檚 storyteller, connecting separate, distant events into a single narrative. The work is published Sept.

Researchers Identify a Potentially Safer Approach to Opioid Drug Development

Andy Fell — August 24, 2021 - 8:01am

Opioids are powerful painkillers but their use is hindered because patients become tolerant to them, requiring higher and higher doses, and overdoses can cause respiratory depression and death. A recent study from researchers at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience contradicts existing thinking about how opioid drugs cause tolerance and respiratory depression, and suggests a new, balanced approach to developing safer analgesics. The work was published July 13 in Neuropsychopharmacology.

$15 Million Grant to Renew Center Studying Effects of Maternal Infections on Offspring

Andy Fell — April 07, 2021 - 9:30am

Discovering how infections during pregnancy, such as COVID-19 and influenza, can lead to psychiatric illness and developmental disorders in offspring years later, and how to detect, prevent or treat these disorders, is the subject of a $15.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to the Conte Center at the University of California, Davis.