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February 22, 2022
A study by UK SCoBIRC was recently published in Brain. The study shows that delayed mitochondrial-targeted therapy with pioglitazone improves functional outcomes following experimental traumatic brain injury. The manuscript led by Dr. Patrick Sullivan (Department of Neuroscience at UK and Research Physiologist at Lexington VA Healthcare System) and Dr.
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February 21, 2022

Jordon Burdette, a senior neuroscience and psychology major, was minutes away from presenting to a crowd of University of Kentucky scientists when the nerves set in. Her presentation, focused on cellular regeneration and spinal cord injury, was a culmination of a year of research she had worked on with her mentor, Warren Alilain, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience.

Burdette pushed through those nerves, and Dr. Alilain said she “crushed” it. She left feeling proud of her accomplishment and thankful for the opportunity to study a topic she didn’t expect to ever pursue.

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February 11, 2022

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 11, 2022) — Three Sanders-Brown Center on Aging researchers are the first at the University of Kentucky to receive backing from the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund. CureAlz is a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research with the highest probability of preventing, slowing, or reversing Alzheimer’s disease. The organization puts 100% of donations into research, with around 600 grants given out to date.

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January 31, 2022
Top photo: Brittany Rice, PhD, (left) and Kevin Pearson, PhD, director of inclusive research initiatives, pose for a portrait in Dr. Pearson's lab.-------

Urim Geleta is only into her senior year of her undergraduate degree, yet she has already played a key role in neuroscience research at UK.

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December 14, 2021

Greg Gerhardt, PhD, is a professor of neuroscience and researcher with the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) and Brain Restoration Center, as well as advisor for the MD/PhD program. He currently serves as co-principal investigator for the Brain Restoration Alliance in Neurodegeneration (BRAIN). In the following Q&A, Dr. Gerhardt shares more about his current projects.

Q: Why did you want to pursue a career in neuroscience research?

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October 18, 2021


The University of Kentucky College of Medicine has received the 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

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August 18, 2021

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 18, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) hosted a symposium last week featuring its first class of African American Research Training Scholars (AARTS).

The five scholars each gave a presentation on their research in neurotrauma.

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June 30, 2021

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2021) — The University of Kentucky’s Neuroscience Research Priority Area (NRPA) supports a "collaborative matrix," bringing together diverse groups of investigators, trainees and research groups from nine different colleges across the University of Kentucky campus.

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February 25, 2021

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 25, 2021) — Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) are not only life-threatening at the time of the event, but they can also lead to secondary complications and loss of function in sensory and motor systems. Researchers at the University of Kentucky recently published a unique study focusing on SCIs in eNeuro.

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November 11, 2020

Veterans Day is a time to recognize individuals who have made the honorable decision to protect our country's freedom through military service. Below, we are honoring four of our of our very own faculty members and learners who have served our country, are serving our country, or are committed to serving our country in the most selfless of ways - through the military and in health care. 

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November 2, 2020

The Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC), in collaboration with the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has selected five undergraduate students for the inaugural African American Research Training Scholars (AARTS) program.

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October 9, 2020

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 9, 2020) — Allan Butterfield, a professor of biological chemistry in the University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences, has been named among the world’s leading Alzheimer’s disease experts by Expertscape, an online base of biomedical expertise.

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August 6, 2020

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 6, 2020) — For a couple of years now members of the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC), in collaboration with UK College of Arts and Sciences, have been working to increase the representation of Black undergraduate students in neuroscience.

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July 21, 2020

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21, 2020) — A $3.2 million grant will support University of Kentucky College of Medicine research that could pave the way for a treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

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October 1, 2019

A new study by researchers in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences and College of Medicine is featured in Nature Communications this week.

Sandeep Saxena, Hemendra Vekaria, Patrick Sullivan and Ashley Seifert are authors on the paper "Connective tissue fibroblasts from highly regenerative mammals are refractory to ROS-induced cellular senescence." The paper offers new insights into how cells from certain mammals — African spiny mice and rabbits — respond to stress and regenerate injured tissue. 

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January 24, 2019

Regeneration is one of the most enticing areas of biological research. How are some animals able to regrow body parts? Is it possible that humans could do the same? If scientists could unlock the secrets that confer those animals with this remarkable ability, the knowledge could have profound significance in clinical practice down the road.  

Scientists at the University of Kentucky have taken this concept one step closer to reality, announcing today that they have assembled the genome of the axolotl, a salamander whose only native habitat is a lake near Mexico City.

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April 18, 2018

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been a hot topic of late as soldiers return from the battlefield and football players from the gridiron with debilitating injuries.

To date, treatment for TBI has been limited because the underlying mechanisms that cause brain damage are still poorly understood. Recently, however, science has shown increased interest in exploring ways to prompt the brain to heal itself after injury, or perhaps even protect itself as the injury occurs.

March 28, 2018
Dr. Miller was recently awarded a career development award from the CCTS entitled: Reducing Pathological Macrophage Activation and White Matter Injury in Neonatal Intraventricular Hemorrhage This project is designed to examine the time course of neuroinflammation after neonatal intraventricular hemorrhage and tests new anti-inflammatory compounds in this disease. This project also utilizes behavioral testing that has not been applied to this injury model and will examine white matter pathology several weeks after injury.
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March 23, 2018
S. Randal Voss, Primary Faculty Member of SCoBIRC and the Department of Neuroscience received an award from the Department of Defense entitled: "Identifying Epigenetic Mechanisms that Connect Limb Development and Regeneration with the Genomic Landscape." The objective of the project is to identify, compare, and validate DNA sequences that regulate transcription during salamander limb development and regeneration. Click here http://www.vosslab.com/ for additional information about research in the Voss lab.
March 22, 2018
Dr. Brandon Miller, a pediatric neurosurgeon and clinician scientists with a laboratory in SCoBIRC was featured in "Making the Rounds". He treats patients of all ages who have brain and spine injuries or problems. http://ukhealthcare.net/blog/making-the-rounds-dr-brandon-miller/