Q&A with William Van Nostrand

FACULTY Q&A Meet William Van Nostrand, Ph.D. The Hermann Professor of Neuroscience reflects on the serendipity of science, what’s next in his research, and what we still don’t know about exercise. BILL VAN NOSTRAND WAS a grad student in biochemistry at University of California, Irvine, when he was tasked with isolating and characterizing an unknown […]

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Early Impact

FACULTY Q&A Early Impact Professor Nasser Zawia on “the critical window” during brain development, why minority populations are more vulnerable to Alzheimer’s, and the secret to staying motivated. AS A KID, PROFESSOR NASSER ZAWIA wondered endlessly about the big questions: the history of the universe, human existence, and life as we know it—an ongoing fascination […]

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Steps Forward

FACULTY Q&A   Steps Forward Assistant Professor Katharina Quinlan investigates the mysteries of ALS. KATHARINA QUINLAN WAS a freshman at Marquette University, just starting her first day of a summer research job, when she saw something she would never forget. Her professor, studying locomotor networks in lampreys, had isolated the spinal cord from a fish. […]

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RIH event

Countdown to 2025: Progress on Ending Alzheimer’s Disease In 2013, world leaders at the G8 dementia summit set a target deadline to have a disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s by 2025.   Learn about new developments in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease in an evening with researchers from Rhode Island Hospital and URI: Brian […]

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Taking stock

VIEWS   Taking Stock This is the time to push harder in our research into under-explored factors. OVER THE SUMMER, you may have seen speculative headlines and even stock market frenzy surrounding some of the findings presented at the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. While there were encouraging results and new reasons to be positive, […]

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Young Investigator

IN THE LAB   Young Investigator Q&A: Jaclyn Iannucci Neuroscience graduate student Jackie Iannucci is looking into the role of microglial cells in Alzheimer’s disease. THINK OF MICROGLIA AS ROVING VACUUMS, the scavengers that eat up harmful debris in the brain. Normally, they help keep the brain healthy. But research by Ryan Institute Executive Director […]

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  INNOVATION New Wave MARCH 2018 URI-based biotech startup EPhysBio takes a closer look at brain activity to fill a critical gap in drug discovery.   TEN YEARS AGO, MARGARET LEVIN was working to develop a drug to treat schizophrenia when she needed to come up with a better way to investigate and analyze brain […]

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Inflammation Connection

BRAIN HEALTH • JUNE 2018 The Inflammation Connection  W. Sue T. Griffin, Ph.D. was a young researcher when she identified a surprising similarity between the cells in the immune system and in the brain. Thirty-five years later, she has helped transform what we know about neuroinflammation–and what we can do to prevent it. SUE GRIFFIN […]

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Brain Health

BRAIN HEALTH Better Foods for Thought Navindra Seeram, Ph.D. on training your gut to get the most out of your diet, eating a rainbow, and making food your medicine. There are more than 100 trillion bacteria in your gut, says Professor of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Navindra Seeram—and they help determine how you respond to […]

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