Knight Initiative News

Lab-grown “reductionist replicas” of the human brain are helping scientists understand fetal development and cognitive disorders, including autism. But ethical questions loom.

Scientists and ethicists including Wu Tsai Neuro affiliates Sergiu Pașca and Hank Greely argued for an international process to address the ethical and social questions raised by organoids.

The new work, in mice missing the autism-linked gene CNTNAP2, suggests a mechanism to help explain the overlap between epilepsy and autism.

In a recent study, scientists successfully decoded not only the words people tried to say but the words they merely imagined saying.

Is your brain aging faster than your chronological age? New research shows it could raise your risk of death and dementia significantly—and offers promise for early intervention.

Knight Initiative researchers developed a blood test that track the biological age of the brain and other organs.

The findings of two recent studies give hope that the disease could one day be reversed in humans—but experts warn that this complex disease will likely need multiple complementary treatments.

With support from a Wu Tsai Neuro grant, researchers have developed a potentially game-changing new way to treat a leading cause of death.

A new Stanford study used blood proteins to analyze the 'biological' age of brains and other organs compared to the person's actual age.

The tool, built by a team led by Stanford's Tony Wyss-Coray, uses a single vial of blood to assess the 'biological age' of each organ.

Wu Tsai Neuro researcher Karl Deisseroth and colleagues drew on a variety of techniques to probe how emotional responses arise in the brain.

Knight Initiative–supported research by Pascal Geldsetzer and colleagues adds to evidence that preventing the viral infection can help stave off cognitive decline.

New Alzheimer's biomarkers focus on whether Alzheimer's has actually begun to affect a person's thinking and memory, rather than just amyloid levels.

Gordon Wang, director of the Neuroscience Microscopy Service Community Lab at Wu Tsai Neuro, and his team are studying integrated stress response inhibitor (ISRIB) as a potential treatment for Fragile X syndrome, aiming to restore brain function and improve social behavior.

Mice learn fastest and most reliably when they experience an increase in dopamine paired with an inhibition of serotonin in their nucleus accumbens, a new study shows, helping to resolve long-standing questions about the neuromodulators’ relationship.

New research shows aging is not a uniform process. Parts of our bodies start aging earlier than others, right down to our organs and cells.

Fat-filled microglia may play a role in the damage caused by Alzheimer’s, especially for those who carry two copies a particular gene.

Science Corporation's retinal implant, built on the research of faculty affiliate Daniel Palanker, has allowed some people who lost their central vision to read, play cards, and recognize faces.

Wu Tsai Neuro affiliate Carolyn Rodriguez directs the Stanford OCD Research Lab. She tells NPR there are still a lot of basics we have yet to understand about OCD.

Study in mice, supported by the Knight Initiative, suggests that an experimental cancer drug boosted brain metabolism, restored memory, and improved Alzheimer's symptoms. This novel approach may offer a new way to treat Alzheimer's beyond targeting amyloid plaques.