Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute


Showing 11-20 of 39 Results

  • Melanie Hayden Gephart

    Melanie Hayden Gephart

    Professor of Neurosurgery and, by courtesy, of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

    BioI am a brain tumor neurosurgeon, treating patients with malignant and benign tumors, including gliomas, brain metastases, meningiomas, and schwannomas. I direct the Stanford Brain Tumor Center and the Stanford Brain Metastasis Consortium, collaborative unions of physicians and scientists looking to improve our understanding and treatment of brain tumors. My laboratory seeks greater understanding of the mechanisms driving tumorigenesis and disease progression in malignant brain tumors. We study how rare cancer cell populations survive and migrate in the brain, inadvertently supported by native brain cells. We develop novel cerebrospinal fluid-based biomarkers to track brain cancer treatment response, relapse, and neurotoxicity. Our bedside-to-bench-to-bedside research model builds on a foundation of generously donated patient samples, where we test mechanisms of brain cancer growth, develop novel pre-clinical models that reliably recapitulate the human disease, and facilitate clinical trials of new treatments for patients with brain cancer.

    www.GephartLab.com
    https://stan.md/BrainMets
    @HaydenGephartMD

  • John P. Hegarty II

    John P. Hegarty II

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioI am a neuroscientist and Principal Investigator of the Stanford Clinical Neuroscience (CNS) Lab in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as well as Director of Neuroimaging for the Autism and Developmental Disorders Research Program at Stanford. My innovative research studies clinical aspects of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience, with a special focus on examining the neural circuitry associated with important brain-behavior relationships that may underlie different psychological and psychiatric domains in autistic children, adolescents, and adults. The ultimate goal of this research is to improve our understanding of the development of different cognitive and behavioral skills in order to develop mechanistically driven interventions that will improve precision medicine for mental health. Biologically based diagnosis and treatment are extremely limited for most psychological and psychiatric conditions but also critically needed to increase early identification and improve treatment outcomes, especially for neurodevelopmental disorders in which early intervention is the most beneficial. My early career research has primarily focused on clinical neuroscience using neuroimaging (e.g., MRI & EEG) to examine the effects of different drugs and behavioral interventions on the brain, especially for developing biomarkers for improving treatment planning and monitoring biological changes in response to single dose and clinical trials.

    My primary contributions to science thus far fall within these major categories: 1) identifying the neural correlates of individual differences in cognition and behavior, 2) developing new interventions and investigating the neurobiological substrates of response to treatment, 3) examining different factors that contribute to brain development, 4) summarizing and increasing accessibility to autism-related research, and 5) methods development for neuroimaging studies. My earliest research investigated the neurobiology of alexithymia, dyslexia, and stress using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to test theories of the mechanisms that contribute to differences in cognition and behavior. My subsequent dissertation research, in which I began to focus on neurodevelopmental disorders, examined the neural correlates of response to beta-blockers in autistic adults and also assessed the contribution of cerebellar circuits to the autism phenotype. During my postdoctoral training, I have developed further skills for working with children in multiple clinical research settings, especially for using advanced neuroimaging approaches to examine important brain-behavior relationships. This includes a recent K99/R00 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NCT04278898 & NCT05664789) that will assess the neurobiology of restricted and repetitive behaviors in autistic children and examine the efficacy and target engagement of a novel nutritional supplement and investigational drug, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), in the brain. You can find more information about our NAC studies at https://redcap.link/NACandAutism.

  • Jeremy J. Heit, MD, PhD

    Jeremy J. Heit, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Radiology (Neuroimaging and Neurointervention) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research seeks to advance our understanding of cerebrovascular disease and to develop new minimally invasive treatments for these diseases. We study ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, cerebral aneurysms, delayed cerebral ischemia, cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), dural arteriovenous fistulae, and other vascular diseases of the brain. We use state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques to non-invasively study these diseases, and we are developing future endovascular technologies to advance neurointerventional surgery.

    www.heitlab.com

  • H. Craig Heller

    H. Craig Heller

    Lorry I. Lokey/Business Wire Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNeurobiology of sleep, circadian rhythms, regulation of body temperature, mammalian hibernation, and human exercise physiology. Currently applying background in sleep and circadian neurobiology the understanding and correcting the learning disability of Down Syndrome.

  • Stefan Heller, PhD, MS

    Stefan Heller, PhD, MS

    Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in the School of Medicine and Professor of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research focuses on the inner ear, from its earliest manifestation as one of the cranial placodes until it has developed into a mature and functioning organ. We are interested in how the sensory epithelia of the inner ear that harbor the sensory hair cells develop, how the cells mature, and how these epithelia respond to toxic insults. The overarching goal of this research is to find ways to regenerate lost sensory hair cells in mammals.

  • Jaimie Henderson, MD

    Jaimie Henderson, MD

    John and Jene Blume - Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor, Professor of Neurosurgery and, by courtesy, of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research interests encompass several areas of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, including frameless stereotactic approaches for therapy delivery to deep brain nuclei; cortical physiology and its relationship to normal and pathological movement; brain-computer interfaces; and the development of novel neuromodulatory techniques for the treatment of movement disorders, epilepsy, pain, and other neurological diseases.

  • Victor W. Henderson, MD, MS

    Victor W. Henderson, MD, MS

    Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch interests:
    (1) Risk factors for age-associated cognitive decline and for dementia.
    (2) Therapeutic strategies to improve cognitive abilities in aging and in dementia.
    (3) Brain–behavior relations as they pertain to human cognition.