#TeamTuesday 🌱 CRN Team Khurana, one of our new PD Heterogeneity teams, is studying how pesticide exposures may shape #Parkinsons biology and clinical subtypes. Their work combines cohort data, stem-cell models, alpha-synuclein biomarkers, and AI tools. 🔗 bit.ly/4wVuHt4

Meet the newest generation of UCLA neuroscientists. Last year's incoming PhD trainees are now joining labs & beginning research that will define the next chapter of brain science. They arrived full of curiosity & ambition during trying times & we are proud to have them at @dgsomucla.bsky.social!

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability & most survivors never fully recover. Tom Carmichael, chair of Neurology at @dgsomucla.bsky.social, has identified a drug that mimics physical rehabilitation by restoring brain rhythms disrupted by #stroke. A pill for stroke recovery. t.co/a646Zo6j5c

Parkinson’s disease can cause attention, memory, language and problem-solving difficulties, sometimes appearing at diagnosis and progressing slowly. Learn about managing these PD symptoms: Parkinson.org/understanding-parkinsons/non-movement-symptoms/cognitive

Cognitive Changes

Brain changes that lead to motor symptoms can also result in slowness in memory and thinking.

parkinson.org

Aficionado's corner: An aptamer is a short single-stranded piece of DNA or RNA that is designed to bind very specifically to a target molecule, much like an antibody does but with some advantages. The name comes from the Latin "aptus" meaning "to fit." The aptamer they use here is called 1R6.

Glioblastoma tumor cells behave like cells from a developing brain, proliferating w/o normal controls. Aparna Bhaduri's lab at @dgsomucla.bsky.social is using what we know about cortical development to understand why & find new therapeutic targets. Neuroscience meets cancer biology. t.co/VLyfqOEpPv

The Keystone meeting on neural plasticity after CNS injury is ~6 months away. Time to start planning and getting excited. We’ve got promos! urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

#TeamTuesday 🌱 CRN Team Bronstein, one of our new PD Heterogeneity teams, is studying how environmental toxins and genetic factors may shape #Parkinsons progression. Their work uses stem cells and animal models to examine vulnerability to faster progression. 🔗 bit.ly/4waZHVM

Parkinson's is the fastest growing neurological disorder & aging alone can't explain it. A @dgsomucla.bsky.social study links air toxics in CA's Central Valley to #parkinsons risk. Nickel, benzene & 1,3-butadiene all show striking associations. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969726006637

Tonight’s fireworks are a full-brain workout: color and motion engage the visual system, booms recruit multisensory circuits, surprise triggers dopamine, and watching together amplifies the experience. Evolution built us to find meaning in sensation. Happy 4th from @UCLA Neuroscience!

Very pleased to share our latest (now published), from star student Kamal Narayana. He finds lowering (not increasing) peri-infarct blood flow beyond the hyper-acute phase, improved stroke recovery by lessening blood brain barrier disruption and neuro-inflammation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧪 How do environmental exposures, like pesticides and chemicals, shape #Parkinsons risk, and point us toward new therapeutic strategies? Four CRN teams are studying how toxins interact with biology and genetics to drive disease, opening new paths for prevention and treatment. bit.ly/44wpUlv

Neurosicientist Aryn Gittis and colleagues show Parkinson’s symptoms like tremor and slowed movement arise from different brain circuits, a finding that could lead to more targeted, personalized treatments. 🧪 #WomenInSTEM www.cmu.edu/mcs/news-eve...

Parkinson’s Symptoms Trace to Distinct Brain Circuits

Carnegie Mellon University’s Aryn Gittis and colleagues suggest the most recognizable symptoms of Parkinson's disease result from disruptions in different motor circuits of the brain, an insight that ...

cmu.edu

The Researcher Who Didn’t Want to Know www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/s...

The Researcher Who Didn’t Want to Know

nytimes.com

What does it take to understand the brain? At UCLA, it takes a community. More than 320 #neuroscience labs across medicine, science, and engineering are working together to advance discovery & develop new approaches to neurological & psychiatric disorders. Learn more in today's video. #brainhealth

@annechurchland.bsky.social also appreciates the Parkinson’s symposium was made freely available online afterward. Making research conversations accessible to patients, families, & caregivers should be part of how we build trust, understanding & community around neurodegenerative disease research.

Exploring the Latest in Parkinson's Disease Research and Treatment at UCLA

YouTube video by UCLA Neurology

youtube.com

That is why community-focused events like this symposium matter so much. They create space not just for education, but for connection.

Organized by William Zeiger (@zeigerlab.bsky.social) the event reflects something I think we need more of in medicine & neuroscience: making research conversations more accessible to the people most impacted by these diseases. Grateful for support of the UCLA BRI in making events like this possible.

As part of this week’s spotlight on neurodegeneration research, we're highlighting a recent @dgsomucla.bsky.social Parkinson’s symposium. Patients, families & community were invited to engage directly with researchers & learn more about the science shaping the future of #parkinsons treatment.

Thrilled to share that I’ll be starting my lab at the SickKids Research Institute and University of Toronto in August! williamsonlab.ca Recruiting at all levels. Get in touch if you’re interested in astrocyte biology of cognition and disease!

Williamson Lab

The Williamson Lab studies astrocyte biology across development, cognition, and disease.

williamsonlab.ca

Read more about Dr. Rexach and her work here: www.uclahealth.org/departments/...

Rexach Lab

The Department of Neurology at UCLA was founded by Augustus S. Rose, MD, in the 1950's in the UCLA School of Medicine.

uclahealth.org

Amazing work from my friend and post-doc mate Anand Suresh and the rest of the Portera-Cailliau lab: www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

Translatome profiling reveals opposing alterations in inhibitory and excitatory neurons of fragile X mice and identifies EPAC2 as a therapeutic target

Suresh et al. profile the translatomes of excitatory and parvalbumin neurons in fragile X syndrome mice and identify Rapgef4/Epac2 as the only gene that is synaptic, an FMRP target, and an NDD candida...

cell.com

Exciting new research identifies specific neural circuits that appear to be restored by brain stimulation therapies to rapidly relieve severe #depression. From @dgsomucla1.bsky.social's @michaelgongwer.bsky.social, @ladenardo.bsky.social & @scottwilke5.bsky.social. Read more: t.co/0b4CEmfTly #TMS

As UCLA Neuroscientists, we care deeply about advancing research and training future scientists. Today’s the last day to be part of Bruin Giving Day. You can support us here: bruingivingday.ucla.edu/campaigns/ne... #neuroscience #ucla #bruingivingday #philanthropy #saveourscience #scienceresearch

Neuroscience Research - UCLA Bruin Giving Day

Neuroscience research advances high-impact discoveries about brain function, development and disease. It supports research that translates scientific breakthroughs into therapies for neurological and ...

bruingivingday.ucla.edu

📣 Postdoc in Human Neurophysiology & Neurorehab 📣 The Real-Time NeuroRehabilitation Lab at the U of Iowa is hiring a Postdoctoral Research Scholar! Motor control, EEG/TMS, neurorehabilitation, and real-time multimodal methods. 📅 Summer/Fall 2026 📧 sara-hussain@uiowa.edu Please share!

We’re recruiting! Come join our lab as a staff research assistant. Lots of interesting skills to learn - 2P imaging, behavior, disease models, and more! www.uclahealthcareers.org/job/23287056...

Staff Research Associate I - Neurology - UCLA Health Careers - Job #30035 - Los Angeles, CA

Take a look at a great career opportunity where you can make a real difference at UCLA Health

uclahealthcareers.org

In honor of #worldparkinsonsday, lets acknowledge some of the researchers and clinicians who have advanced our understanding of PD. Identified alpha-synuclein as a major component of Lewy bodies, clumps of proteins found in Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies.

In honor of #WorldParkinsonsDay, let's acknowledge James Parkinson — the first person to document "paralysis agitans," now known as Parkinson's disease, within his work "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy."

A new paper from @ladenardo.bsky.social helps explain how males and females in the way that reward circuits are re-wired after early life stress. www.jneurosci.org/content/46/2...

Sex and Stress Govern the Function and Innervation of a Basolateral Amygdala to Nucleus Accumbens Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone/GABA-Expressing Projection

Motivated behaviors are executed by refined brain circuits. Early-life adversity (ELA) is a risk for human affective disorders involving dysregulated reward behaviors. In mice, ELA causes anhedonia-li...

jneurosci.org