Category: News

 (Photo/Courtesy of Arthur W. Toga) In fiscal year 2017-2018, the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC received more than $30.5 million in active research funding. This summer, the institute added millions more in federal grants for ongoing projects exploring Alzheimer’s disease, mapping connectivity…Continue Reading Institute wins millions for research on Alzheimer’s disease, brain mapping and more

Researchers show structures, nerve connections and functions in vivid detail as part of the most detailed atlas yet of the brain’s memory bank BY Gary Polakovic OCTOBER 8, 2018 Brain mapping helps scientists understand how specific areas function and how to create new drugs and targeted treatments. (Photo/Courtesy of Tyler Ard, USC Mark and Mary Stevens…Continue Reading USC scientists map brain region linked to Alzheimer’s and other diseases

Findings may yield new therapies for depression and anxiety among millions of patients BY USC Viterbi staff SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 Mood is represented across multiple sites in the brain rather than localized regions, which makes decoding them a computational challenge, according to a USC expert. (Image/Sani et. al., Nature Biotechnology, modified from original format) Engineers and physicians…Continue Reading Breakthrough brain research could yield new treatments for depression

GradImpact: Research to Better Understand How Antidepressants Affect Fetal Development Juan Velasquez, a recent doctoral recipient in neuroscience at the University of Southern California, was awarded a prestigious Chateaubriand Fellowship to study how antidepressants affect fetal development during pregnancy. Somewhere between 12-18% of women experience depression at some point during the course of their pregnancy….Continue Reading Recent NGP Alumni Juan Velasquez Featured in GradImpact

Human intelligence can’t be transferred to machines By Nathan Gardels March 2 (Creative Commons/Pixabay) This is the weekend roundup of The WorldPost, of which Nathan Gardels is the editor in chief.  Technologists across the world have frantically embarked on the quest to create a new species in our own image — general artificial intelligence with superior computational brain…Continue Reading USC neuroscientist Antonio Damasio argues that feelings and emotions are what make up human intelligence, consciousness and the capacity for cultural creation. A map of the computational mind, he says, is not the same as being human

Opera and neuroscience share the stage in a unique examination of music and medicine Antonio Damasio, Renée Fleming and Christopher Koelsch discuss the possibility of using music in treatment for issues like chronic pain or cancer. Photos by Michael Palma. The cast: an opera star, a neuroscientist and four young artists in residency with the…Continue Reading Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio and Soprano Renee Fleming share the belief that their disciplines can together improve our health and well-being

The messy biological basis of culture Adrian Woolfson heralds Antonio Damasio’s bold argument that emotions define us.   In attempts to define what makes us uniquely human, emotions and feelings are often marginalized. These deeply ingrained, often irrational aspects of our behaviour seem destined to be the poor cousins of the rational cognitive functions that…Continue Reading New Book by NGP Faculty: Antonio Damasio. The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures.

Unlocking Secrets of Sour Flavors With Something Found in Your Ears   A protein found in the inner ear also exists in cells that help us perceive sour tastes, according to a new study. CreditLeft, adoc-photos/Corbis, via Getty Images; right, Florilegius/SSPL, via Getty Images Of the five tastes — sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami —…Continue Reading NGP faculty, Dr. Liman was featured in the New York Times.

Surprising discovery links sour taste to the inner ear’s ability to sense balance USC Dornsife scientists research ion channels in taste cells that respond to sour flavors   USC Dornsife graduate student Yu-Hsiang Tu and Emily Liman, USC Dornsife biological sciences professor, have made a discovery about taste perception. (USC Photo/Mike Glier)   Scientists at…Continue Reading NGP faculty member Emily Liman and graduate students Yu-Hsiang Tu, AJ Cooper and Bochuan Teng publish study in Science