The Neuroscience Initiative at University of Utah Health represents a commitment, by the University of Utah and the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences office, to unify basic, translational, and clinical research efforts towards a better understanding of the brain in disease and health. This vision is currently being accomplished by linking clinicians, scientists, and the broader neuroscience community at University of Utah Health. Our neuroscience research community, ranging from neurologists to imaging specialist to molecular biologists (>150 investigators) spans across 7 colleges and schools, 15 centers and institutes, and more than 32 departments.
The University of Utah announced today a commitment of $150 million from the Huntsman family to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. The institute is expected to become a nationally-recognized leader in research, care, education and community outreach—and a model for other states to follow.... Read More
Jason Shepherd, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at University of Utah Health and Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chair at the University of Utah has received the National Institutes of Health Director’s Transformative Research Award. The prestigious award promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches to research that could create or challenge existing paradigms.... Read More
Deborah A. Yurgelun-Todd, Ph.D, is one of nine researchers to be awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health to explore the effects of cannabinoids in pain management. Funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, her work at the University of Utah explores the analgesic effects of cannabinoids by evaluating the chemical changes in pain-processing regions by using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.... Read More
Macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel) affects about one in 5,000 people, causing a gradual loss of central vision, typically after age 40. As part of an international research effort directed by the Lowy Medical Research Institute (LMRI), Bernstein has spent 15 years working with MacTel patients, sifting through family genetic histories.... Read More
Researchers at University of Utah Health have identified a link between autism and steroid hormone changes detected in the mother’s blood. These changes, which suggest increased estrogen activity, can be seen early in the second trimester. The pilot study, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, opens a new direction in autism research.... Read More
Mice scurry around while foraging for food, but genetics may be the unseen hand controlling these meandering movements. Researchers at University of Utah Health are using machine learning to draw links between genetic controls that shape incremental steps of instinctive and learned behaviors. The results are available online in Cell Reports on August 13.... Read More
Research suggests that oxytocin neurons initially evolved as a defensive mechanism to protect against pain and injury. Oxytocin, the ‘love’ hormone commonly associated with mother-child bonding and romance, has long been studied in association with social behaviors. But oxytocin also has a less well-understood side.... Read More
Keven Walgamott had a good “feeling” about picking up the egg without crushing it. What seems simple for nearly everyone else can be more of a Herculean task for Walgamott, who lost his left hand and part of his arm in an electrical accident 17 years ago. But he was testing out the prototype of a high-tech prosthetic arm with fingers that not only can move, they can move with his thoughts. And thanks to a biomedical engineering team at the University of Utah, he “felt” the egg well enough so his brain could tell the prosthetic hand not to squeeze too hard.... Read More
Dr. Perry Renshaw, Professor of Psychiatry, was induced as a Fellow of the Society at the 2019 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Conference in Montreal, Canada. ... Read More
