Tampa, FL (Jan 3, 2012) – Immune system abnormalities that mimic those seen with autism spectrum disorders have been linked to the amyloid precursor protein (APP), reports a research team from the University of South Florida’s Department of Psychiatry and the Silver Child Development Center. The study, conducted with mouse models of autism, suggests that elevated levels of an APP fragment circulating in the blood could explain the aberrations in immune cell populations and function – both observed in some autism patients. The findings were recently published online in the […]

Tampa, FL (Dec. 5, 2011) — Physician-scientist Sarah Yuan, MD, PhD, a nationally recognized leader in translational cardiovascular research, has been named chair of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at USF Health. Dr. Yuan recently joined the University of South Florida from the University of California Davis Medical Center, where she was the Pearl Stamps Stewart Professor of Surgery and Director of Research. Known for innovative research in cardiovascular disease and health, Dr. Yuan’s work moves laboratory findings toward applications in patient care. She has an extensive track […]

A review of emerging treatments for Parkinson’s disease by a University of South Florida neurologist highlights advances that may lead to more effective drugs and other therapies for the movement disorder marked by tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, and impaired balance. Dr. Robert Hauser, professor of neurology, molecular pharmacology and physiology, and director of the USF Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center, recently published the article “Future Treatments for Parkinson’s Disease: Surfing the PD Pipeline” in the International Journal of Neuroscience. Robert Hauser, MD Dr. Hauser reviews antiparkinsonian treatments in […]

Tampa, FL (Nov. 9, 2011)– Using innovative techniques for unbiased counting of brain cells, Peter R. Mouton, PhD, of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute and a diverse team of researchers have confirmed a new theory about a cause of autism. The pivotal study, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, confirmed that the brains of children with autism have an overabundance of brain cells produced only before birth, suggesting that autism arises from prenatal processes gone awry. Led by Eric Courchesne, PhD, at the University of California […]

Scientists speak to each other in complexities, while journalists seek to tell stories simply. Yet the two need to find common ground to help the public understand scientific and medical topics accurately –especially in a world in which science often becomes politicized and scientific funding can depend on public perceptions. The two groups came together last week at USF to try to find common understandings at a forum at USF, convened by Research! America, USF and Pfizer. “There’s a growing recognition that scientists need to take the lead in communicating […]

Tampa, FL (Oct. 24, 2011) – Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public College Health have shown for the first time in a rodent model that the earliest form of malaria parasites can lay dormant in red blood cells and “wake up,” or recover, following treatment with the antimalarial drug artesunate. The study, which appears today in the online journal PLoS ONE, suggests that this early-stage dormancy phenomenon contributes to the failure of artesunate alone, or even combined with other drugs, to eliminate the mosquito-borne disease.  […]

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The American Academy of Neurology has released an updated guideline on how to best treat essential tremor, which is the most common type of tremor disorder and is often confused with other movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. The guideline is published in the October 19, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Essential tremor affects the hands, head and voice and can be disabling for the estimated 10 million people in the United States living with the disorder. […]

A Research!America workshop and forum  at USF offers  students  and postdoc scholars an opportunity to learn about science advocacy and effectively communicating research. University of South Florida researcher Jay Dean, PhD, is one of the country’s leading experts in “hyperbaric neurophysiology,” but he doesn’t use terms like oxidative stress and chemosensitive neurons when he’s explaining his research to people outside his discipline. Instead he compares oxygen to a drug, which in high enough doses can trigger seizures. And, he says, understanding how high-pressure oxygen harms the central nervous system may lead to […]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has awarded USF researchers $1.2 million to determine if a computerized protocol will help community health centers provide better therapy to children with anxiety disorders. Eric Storch, PhD, associate professor of in both the USF Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and holder of the Guild Endowed Chair at All Children’s Hospital, is the principal investigator for the 3-year grant from the DHHS’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study is titled “Utilizing Health Information […]

The new College of Pharmacy brings together scientists blazing the trail to personalized medicine The USF College of Pharmacy will be a major player in bridging the gap between the science of pharmacogenomics and its clinical applications, said Kevin Sneed, PharmD, dean of the USF College of Pharmacy at the 1st Annual  International Conference on Translational & Clinical Pharmacogenomics. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genetic variation among individuals may be used to predict how different people will respond to medicines – whether it’s a good response, a bad response, […]