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Scientists Find New Cell Type Implicated in Chronic Pain, Inflammation

March 7, 2021
The discovery, from the UNC School of Medicine lab of Mark Zylka, PhD, offers pain researchers a new, precise target to treat inflammation associated with neuropathic pain. Mark Zylka, PhD CHAPEL HILL, NC – One of the hallmarks of chronic pain is inflammation, and scientists at the UNC School of...

Scherrer Receives McKnight Award for Study of Brain Disorders

December 18, 2020
Greg Scherrer, PhD, associate professor in the UNC Department of Cell biology and Physiology and member of the UNC Neuroscience Center, will use the three-year, $300,000 grant to study the neural basis of pain.   The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience selected three projects to receive the 2021 Neurobiology of...

Scientists Take Major Step Toward Angelman Syndrome Gene Therapy

October 29, 2020
Published in Nature, research led by Mark Zylka, PhD, at the UNC School of Medicine, shows how gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 can restore function in an animal model of the neurodevelopmental condition Angelman syndrome. Mark Zylka, PhD CHAPEL HILL, NC – October 21, 2020 – Babies born with a faulty...

Scan of Genomes for Inherited Variants Implicates New Gene Important in Autism

September 18, 2020
In a study published in Translational Psychiatry, research led by Hyejung Won, PhD, and Jason Stein, PhD, assistant professors in the UNC Department of Genetics and members of the UNC Neuroscience Center, found that lowered expression of a gene called DDHD2 may increase a person’s likelihood of autism. Spectrum News, a...

Dr. Bryan Roth’s New Paper in Cell Journal

September 18, 2020
Hallucinogens like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, and substituted N-benzyl phenylalkylamines are widely used recreationally with psilocybin being considered...Find the full paper here.

Congratulations to the Juan Song Lab

September 3, 2020
Congratulations to the Juan Song lab on their work on "Neuropeptides Modulate Local Astrocytes to Regulate Adult Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells", now online @NeuroCellPress! Read the full paper in Neuron.

Neuroscience Curriculum Graduate Students Awarded External Funding

August 21, 2020
The Neuroscience Curriculum is proud to announce that 5 graduate students were recently awarded external funding from a variety of sponsors in support of their research. Please join us in congratulating them on this achievement. Amber Kline Amber is a graduate student in the laboratory of Hiroyuki Kato and was...

CZI Collaborative Pairs Grant

August 21, 2020
Drs. Sarah Cohen & Mohanish Deshmukh will use multicolor live-cell imaging to understand how stem cells reorganize as they differentiate into neurons and glia. Their long term goals are to determine whether defects in organelle dynamics are a fundamental feature of neurodegenerative disease. This project combines Dr. Cohen’s expertise in...

Zylka Lab awarded $6.1 million from NIH to develop CRISPR/Cas9 gene therapy for Angelman syndrome, study UBE3A autism gene with Philpot Lab

September 18, 2019
The National Institutes of Health have awarded two separate grants totaling $6.1 million to Mark Zylka, PhD, director of the UNC Neuroscience Center. One of the grants was co-awarded to Ben Philpot, PhD, associate director of the center at the UNC School of Medicine. One of these projects will test...