A View Inside: How Psychedelics Promote Neuroplasticity

Earlier this year, a team of researchers from the UC Davis Institute for Psychedelic and Neurotherapeutics revealed in Science that psychedelics spur cortical neuron growth by activating intracellular pools of 5-HT2A receptors. This neuroplasticity combats withering dendritic spines, a characteristic of several neuropsychiatric disorders.

The Nuances of Memory with Charan Ranganath

Professor of Psychology Charan Ranganath and his colleagues are uncovering the science behind memory to develop biomarkers that can identify individuals with preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. The hope is that early detection will allow for successful intervention.

Scientists Pinpoint 1 Reason Why Women May Not Respond to Depression Treatments the Same as Men

Although treatments for depression exist, sometimes these treatments don’t work for many who use them. Furthermore, women experience higher rates of depression than men, yet the cause for this difference is unknown, making their illnesses, at times, more complicated to treat. UC Davis researchers teamed up with scientists from Mount Sinai Hospital, Princeton University, and Laval University, Quebec, to try to understand how a specific part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, is affected during depression.

Bat Brains Organized for Echolocation and Flight

A new study shows how the brains of Egyptian fruit bats are highly specialized for echolocation and flight, with motor areas of the cerebral cortex that are dedicated to sonar production and wing control. The work by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and UC Berkeley was published May 25 in Current Biology. Professor Leah Krubitzer’s lab at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience studies how evolution produces variation in brain organization across a wide variety of mammals, including opossums, tree shrews, rodents and primates. This comparative neurobiology approach shows how both evolution and development influence brain organization.

Brain Builds and Uses Maps of Social Networks, Physical Space, in the Same Way

Even in these social-distanced days, we keep in our heads a map of our relationships with other people: family, friends, co-workers, and how they relate to each other. New research from the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain shows that we put together this social map in much the same way that we assemble a map of physical places and things.

Big Ideas for Tomorrow’s Challenges

Innovative projects aim to transform the future

UC Davis’ Big Ideas are forward-thinking, interdisciplinary programs and projects that build upon the strengths of the university to make a better world. The College of Letters and Science is lead and partner on several initiatives that will help shape the rest of this century and beyond. Here we share the visions of College faculty champions and researchers engaged in five of the Big Ideas.

Brain Molecule Identified as Key in Anxiety Model

Boosting a single molecule in the brain can change “dispositional anxiety,” the tendency to perceive many situations as threatening, in nonhuman primates, researchers from UC Davis, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found. The molecule, neurotrophin-3, stimulates neurons to grow and make new connections. The finding provides hope for new strategies focused on intervening early in life to treat people at risk for anxiety disorders, depression and related substance abuse. Current treatments work for only a subset of people and often only partially relieve symptoms. 

Bright Minds of Brain Science Gather for ‘ERP Boot Camp’

A lot of brain power is concentrating at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain for a July 15–24 “boot camp” on researching human brain activity. The annual ERP Boot Camp brings 35 emerging and established scientists from around the world to learn from leading experts how to best record “event-related potentials (ERPs),” the electrical signals generated in the brain in response to events like a spoken word or an image on a computer screen.