BE-WRP
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Evidence suggests early developing human brains are preconfigured with instructions for understanding the world
Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Tal Sharf’s lab used organoids to make fundamental discoveries about human brain development.
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Brain cells are more plastic than previously thought, study shows
Using in-vitro models of a specific type of brain cell, scientists show that neurons are capable of changing from one type to another
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How optogenetics can put the brakes on epilepsy seizures
In what could one day become a new treatment for epilepsy, researchers at UC San Francisco, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley have used pulses of light to prevent seizure-like activity in neurons.
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Researchers to investigate genetic roots of autism, look for new treatments
A new award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will support a team of UC Santa Cruz researchers in exploring the genetic underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder.
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Bioelectronics enable precise control of organoids for better understanding of neuro diseases, neuron circuits
UC Santa Cruz researchers have developed a new plug-and-play bioelectronics system that enables researchers to precisely control neuronal activity in cortical organoids, which will help unlock new discoveries on how brains form neural circuits and the underpinnings of neurodevelopmental and degenerative diseases.
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Nobuhiko Kobayashi elected to the 2023 National Academy of Inventors
Nobuhiko (Nobby) Kobayashi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Santa Cruz, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
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Smart microgrids can restore power more efficiently and reliably in an outage
A new AI model that optimizes the use of renewables and other energy sources outperforms traditional power restoration techniques for islanded microgrids, a new paper from Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Yu Zhang shows.
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Deep neural network provides robust detection of disease biomarkers in real time
Holger Schmidt’s lab has developed a deep neural network that improves the accuracy of their unique devices for detecting pathogen biomarkers.
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Electrical engineer wins award to support improvement of efficient, low-cost agricultural soil sensor systems
UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Colleen Josephson is a recipient of the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research’s (FFAR) 2022 New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award.
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Braingeneers develop novel method to automate the growth of brain tissue organoids on a chip
A team of engineers and scientists at UC Santa Cruz has developed a new method for remote automation of the growth of cerebral organoids – miniature, three-dimensional models of brain tissue grown from stem cells.

