Institute Announcements

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Type 2 Diabetes May Accelerate Brain Aging and Cognitive Decline

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

In Medical News Today (June 6), M. Kerry O'Banion, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, addressed studies from the UK Biobank—a biomedical database with more than half a million participants—which examined Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and cognitive decline. The researchers concluded that T2DM and its progression may accelerate pathways associated with typical brain aging. "The findings are consistent with other studies in the field and highlight the idea that metabolic disease and lifestyle factors that influence its prevalence may be important targets for reducing the burden of age-associated cognitive loss," said O'Banion.

Center for Visual Science builds on 60 years of discovery

Friday, January 14, 2022

For nearly 60 years, the Center for Visual Science (CVS) has been a hub where optics, ophthalmology, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and other disciplines are transforming our understanding of vision and how we treat vision disorders.

More than 40 labs of faculty and trainees continue a tradition that began in 1963 when visual scientist Robert Boynton founded the center.

Since then, significant advances have been made, including research by David Williams, the William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics and sixth director of CVS, that helped develop laser refractive correction surgeries commonly known as LASIK and also enabled researchers to look at single cells in a living eye and even observe the signals these nerve cells send to the brain.

Krystel Huxlin, associate director and co-director of training for CVS, and the James V. Aquavella professor and director of research in ophthalmology, specializes in visual recovery after stroke, and corneal wound healing. She and fellow vision scientist Wayne Knox are developing a non-surgical alternative to laser refractive correction.

New director Susan Marcos, who took the helm in July, is looking to bolster the Center’s global reputation by fostering multidisciplinary collaborations in vision science both internally at the University and internationally. She will also pursue strengthening the alumni network, recruiting talented students, and sourcing seed funding to develop a pilot program that would foster cross-disciplinary research. She aims to also develop a model that accelerates CVS research to industry.