Lifeboat Foundation

The challenge: There are very few ways to slow down Alzheimer’s disease or treat its symptoms, and there’s no cure — in 2021, nearly 120,000 Americans died from Alzheimer’s complications, making it one of the top 10 leading causes of death.

One genetic variant in particular — called APOE-e4 — is strongly tied to the brain disease. Having one copy makes a person 2–3 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, while having two copies (one from each parent) increases the risk by 8–12 times.

Columbia University researchers have identified patterns of brain injury linked to “hidden consciousness” — and the discovery could lead to better outcomes for people in comas or vegetative states.

Hidden consciousness: Severe brain injuries can cause “disorders of consciousness” (DoC), such as vegetative states, in which a person looks awake, but lacks any indication they are aware of their surroundings, and comas, where they appear neither awake nor aware.

An estimated 15–20% of people with a DoC are also experiencing a phenomenon called “cognitive motor dissociation” (CMD), or “hidden consciousness.” That means they are aware of what’s going on around them, but they can’t physically respond to it.

Rohit Singla, an MD/PhD student, shares how his training in both medicine and engineering is allowing him to identify complex problems, understand the nuances within them and tackle those complex problems with elegant solutions that are the right fit for patients with kidney disease. Using data from over 10,000 cases, he is creating artificial intelligence tools to automatically detect microscopic changes in the kidney structure and develop new treatments to improve people’s lives.

Produced by UBC faculty of medicine development and alumni engagement.

Continue reading “Aspire #02 — Rohit Singla: Using AI to Develop New Treatments in Kidney Disease” »

For more information on addiction services at #YaleMedicine, visit: https://www.yalemedicine.org/departments/program-in-addiction-medicine.

Written and produced by Yale Neuroscience PhD student Clara Liao.

Continue reading “How an Addicted Brain Works” »

One misconfigured SAS token has resulted in an expansive GitHub blunder.

Texas-based Venus Aerospace is working with rotating-detonation propulsion technology to turn the “Stargazer” from sci-concept to Mach-9 business jet that flies at 6,900 mph.

Norwegian maritime solutions company, Ulstein, has unveiled a new vessel concept that holds the potential to deliver zero-emission cruises and other ocean industry applications, the company said in a press release.

For over a century, Ulstein has been involved in designing and building ships and delivering sustainable maritime solutions. The maritime industry is staring at a major overhaul in its bid to electrify transport over the waters, and Ulstein may just have the solution, a molten salt reactor (MSR) that can deliver this vision.

Speech BCIs that use brain implants and algorithms to translate brain signals into text are changing the lives of people with paralysis.

What happens in the brain when we feel threatened? Answers to this question could lead to new treatments for people with anxiety and panic disorders and PTSD. Caltech neuroscientist Dean Mobbs (http://www.hss.caltech.edu/people/dean-mobbs) studies how the brain processes different types of danger. In this video, Mobbs talks about fear, horror, and hope. Participants in his studies play virtual-predator video games inspired by horror movies while fMRI machines track the activity in their brains as they encounter threats. Mobbs and his research group recently showed that two regions of the brain are involved in processing fear: one for distant threats that allow some time to strategize, and one for immediate danger that requires a fight, flight, or freeze response. (Read more: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/you-dont-think-your-way-o…tack-81542)

Mobbs conducts research in the Caltech Brain Imaging Center (http://cbic.caltech.edu), which is part of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech (http://neuroscience.caltech.edu). Founded with a $115 million gift to Break Through: The Caltech Campaign (https://breakthrough.caltech.edu/) from visionary philanthropists Tianqiao Chen and Chrissy Luo, the Chen Institute at Caltech supports researchers who are deepening our understanding of the brain.

Continue reading “The Caltech Effect: This Is Your Brain on Fear” »