A team of Penn State and University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine researchers is attempting to answer a question that has long puzzled experts: Why do some individuals suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing trauma, and others do not?
The next generation of neurologists and researchers learned how to treat brain diseases at the USA National Brain Bee Championship, hosted by Penn State College of Medicine from April 12-14.
A new gene therapy can turn certain brain glial cells into functioning neurons, which in turn could help repair the brain after a stroke or during neurological disorders like Alzheimer's or Parkinson’s diseases.
The Department of Neurosurgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center recently hosted the 109th annual meeting of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, the world’s oldest neurosurgical professional organization.
Ping Li, Penn State professor of psychology, linguistics, and information sciences and technology, will speak on “Understanding the Language-Learning Brain through Cyber-Enabled and Computational Methods.” The event will be held in 233A HUB-Robeson Center from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. on Feb. 7.
Penn State scientists are combining neuroscience, engineering, miniaturization, and magnetic fields to create a tiny device that could lead to better, safer treatments for epilepsy and other brain disorders by sensing and "talking to" brain cells without physically invading the brain.
Conventional wisdom suggests that women are better than men at facial recognition and categorizing facial expressions. Penn State psychologists found no evidence for that, despite using both behavioral and neuroimaging tests.
Brains that suffer injuries can adjust in remarkable ways and create connections between injured areas that are better and stronger. However, those new connections may be less efficient and, in the end, more costly to maintain. These "hyperconnections" could increase the likelihood of problems, such as Alzheimer's Disease, developing later in life. Studying hyperconnections underscores the importance of brain protection and could one day lead to treatments for brain impairments.
Educational and fun activities related to neuroscience, mental health, psychology and learning are set for April 5, when Penn State York celebrates Brain Awareness Day. The event, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Conference Center of the Main Classroom Building, is free and open to the public.
Diana Fishbein, director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center and C. Eugene Bennett Chair in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, will be one of the primary speakers at the second annual symposium for the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health. The conference, “Moving Toward Precision Healthcare in Children’s Mental Health: New Perspectives, Methodologies and Technologies in Therapeutics and Prevention,” will take place Oct. 5-7.
Thomas J. Gould has been named head of the Department of Biobehavioral Health in the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State. In this role, he will hold the Jean Phillips Shibley Professorship of Biobehavioral Health. Gould joins Penn State, effective July 1, after serving as professor of psychology and director of the program in neuroscience at Temple University.
Mary Graham, of Wilmington, Delaware, has created a new professorship to honor her late mother, who began her pioneering career in the sciences as a Penn State undergraduate. The Dr. Frances Keesler Graham Early Career Professorship will support promising junior faculty in the Penn State Social Science Research Institute who are pursuing related career paths.
Diana H. Fishbein and Emma Rose will present at the 6th Annual Aspen Brain Forum: The Addicted Brain and New Treatment Frontiers, May 18-20 at the New York Academy of Sciences in New York, New York.
Bruce McEwen, professor of neuroscience at Rockefeller University, will present the keynote lecture, “Experience Shapes the Brain Across the Lifecourse: Towards a Scientific Basis of Policy and Practice,” as part of the first Founder’s Endowment for Excellence and Innovation Research Day at 3:30 p.m. April 25 in the Biobehavioral Health Building on the University Park campus.
How much slow-wave sleep a teenage boy gets may predict whether he is at risk for insulin resistance and other health issues, according to Jordan Gaines, a Penn State neuroscience researcher.
