News & Announcements
Read the latest news from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Department of Neuroscience. The links below take you to articles where you can learn more about our faculty’s latest achievements, awards and honors.
02.22.2024Scientists have discovered a neuronal pathway involved in how the brain encodes the transition to high-intensity fear response behaviors required for survival, according to a study published in Nature.
02.21.2024A neurotransmitter previously thought to only calm neurons may also play a role in waking them up, according to a study published in the journal PLOS Biology, a discovery which upends conventional theories of how the neurotransmitter works in the brain.
02.19.2024Northwestern Medicine investigators have revealed new insights into the impact of neuronal structural diversity on neural computation, the basis of brain function, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
02.05.2024Investigators from the laboratory of Alicia Guemez-Gamboa, PhD, assistant professor of Neuroscience, have discovered new molecular mechanisms of PACS1 syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder, according to findings published in Nature Communications.
01.09.2024Northwestern Medicine scientists have identified how a subset of neurons enable the eyes to perceive motion, according to a study published in Nature Communications, a discovery that reveals previously hidden complexities of how vision functions in mammals.
01.08.2024Several recent studies from Feinberg investigators and colleagues have shed light on complex neurological processes and provided new insights and technological developments for neural prostheses.
12.04.2023Modulating the activity of a kinase in motor neurons may help mitigate mitochondrial defects and other symptoms of spinal muscular atrophy, offering a new therapeutic avenue for the devastating disease, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
11.10.2023A pair of recent studies from the laboratory of Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD, have uncovered novel cellular mechanisms that are involved in two types of genetic ALS, providing support for future development of targeted therapies to treat the disease.
11.06.2023Northwestern scientists have discovered the cause of the ‘punch-drunk’ feeling associated with sleep deprivation, and have found that it also increased dopamine and synaptic plasticity in the brain.
10.20.2023Investigators have discovered a new subtype of interneurons in the retina that allows the eye to see and identify objects better in both the light and in the dark, dismantling previous notions about the inner workings of the retina, according to a Northwestern Medicine study.
10.13.2023 | Breakthroughs newsletterSex is a major determinant in disease prevalence and treatment response, caused by a vast number of genetic differences between men and women. However, the inclusion of both sexes in clinical and scientific research had not been mandated by federal law until nearly the turn of the century.
10.02.2023D. James Surmeier, PhD, the Nathan Smith Davis Professor and chair of Neuroscience, has been named the recipient of the 2023 Annemarie Opprecht Parkinson Award, an international award recognizing significant contributions to the field of Parkinson’s disease research.
08.16.2023Today, more than 50 million adults in the U.S. suffer from chronic pain — pain lasting longer than three months — and is the most common reason why people seek medical attention, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
08.10.2023Northwestern investigators have discovered the mechanisms by which PCDH12, a protein critical to cell adhesion, also contributes to neuron production and neuronal migration during brain development, according to a recent study published in Cell Reports. Loss of PCDH12 function is associated with severe neurodevelopmental disorders, such as microcephaly, infantile epilepsy and autism. The findings of the study shed light on mechanisms of brain cortex development and advance our understanding of pathogenic mechanisms of PCDH12-related neurodevelopmental disorders, ultimately aiding in the identification of potential therapeutic targets.
08.03.2023A new Northwestern University-led study published in Nature Neuroscience has discovered that dopamine neurons are more diverse than previously thought, opening new research directions for further understanding and potentially even treating Parkinson’s disease.
07.27.2023Scientists have discovered that antipsychotic drugs – which inhibit the overactive dopamine causing the symptoms of schizophrenia – interact with a completely different neuron than originally thought.
06.16.2023A Northwestern Medicine study has uncovered novel cellular mechanisms within the retina, findings that could help advance the development of targeted therapeutics for diseases and conditions impacting vision.