Tag Animal research

Target of animal rights protests kicks off animal research ethics forum

October 17, 2013

Any research that includes animals presents ethical questions, but they are questions Dario Ringach believes we rarely address together.

From football to flies: lessons about traumatic brain injury

October 14, 2013

Faced with news of suicides and brain damage in former professional football players, geneticist Barry Ganetzky bemoaned the lack of model systems for studying the insidious and often delayed consequences linked to head injuries.

UW-Madison Statement in Response to Bill Maher Robocalls

October 8, 2013

It is no surprise that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) continues its opposition to biomedical science through their sustained efforts to draw attention to research to which they object. PETA has tried mightily to stop important work on hearing at UW–Madison by making repeated, unsubstantiated and false claims about the work and its conduct.

Mouse studies reveal promising vitamin D-based treatment for MS

September 26, 2013

A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) is a hard lot. Patients typically get the diagnosis around age 30 after experiencing a series of neurological problems such as blurry vision, wobbly gait or a numb foot. From there, this neurodegenerative disease follows an unforgiving course.

Video: Binaural hearing research at UW–Madison

September 5, 2013

Dr. Ruth Litovsky and Dr. Tom Yin of the University of Wisconsin–Madison study binaural hearing - the ability to hear sound with both ears. Animal research is an important part of their work and has led to advancements in improving human hearing.

New gene repair technique promises advances in regenerative medicine

August 12, 2013

Using human pluripotent stem cells and DNA-cutting protein from meningitis bacteria, researchers from the Morgridge Institute for Research and Northwestern University have created an efficient way to target and repair defective genes.

Study puts troubling traits of H7N9 avian flu virus on display

July 10, 2013

The emerging H7N9 avian influenza virus responsible for at least 37 deaths in China has qualities that could potentially spark a global outbreak of flu, according to a new study published today (July 10, 2013) in the journal Nature.

Waisman scientists model human disease in stem cells

June 26, 2013

Many scientists use animals to model human diseases. Mice can be obese or display symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Rats get Alzheimer's and diabetes. But animal models are seldom perfect, and so scientists are looking at a relatively new type of stem cell, called the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell), that can be grown into specialized cells that become useful models for human disease.

PETA’s Mixed Martial Assault on Scientists

June 13, 2013

From the website, Speaking of Research.

Ned Kalin – revealing disorders of the brain

June 10, 2013

Dr. Ned Kalin, chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is an accomplished biological psychiatrist whose research focuses on anxiety. Through imaging studies and understanding the genetic and environmental components of mental illness, his lab is working toward discoveries that can form the basis of early interventions to treat children who are at risk of developing long-term anxiety and related psychiatric disorders.

$18 million to study deadly secrets of flu, Ebola, West Nile viruses

June 6, 2013

In an effort to sort out why some viruses such as influenza, Ebola and West Nile are so lethal, a team of U.S. researchers plans a comprehensive effort to model how humans respond to these viral pathogens.

Engineered stem cell advance points toward treatment for ALS

May 28, 2013

MADISON, Wis. — Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of Wisconsin–Madison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure.

Adult cells transformed into early-stage nerve cells, bypassing the pluripotent stem cell stage

May 2, 2013

A University of Wisconsin–Madison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells - without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC.

Stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice

April 21, 2013

For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember.

Researchers discover the brain origins of variation in pathological anxiety

March 26, 2013

New findings from nonhuman primates suggest that an overactive core circuit in the brain, and its interaction with other specialized circuits, accounts for the variability in symptoms shown by patients with severe anxiety.

Transplanted brain cells in monkeys light up personalized therapy

March 14, 2013

For the first time, scientists have transplanted neural cells derived from a monkey's skin into its brain and watched the cells develop into several types of mature brain cells, according to the authors of a new study in Cell Reports. After six months, the cells looked entirely normal, and were only detectable because they initially were tagged with a fluorescent protein.