NEWS BRIEFS
Children with HIV at greater risk for impaired neurological development Research in Zambia finds that children infected with HIV are significantly more likely to do worse in neurological assessments despite having well-controlled HIV disease, suggesting that they may struggle with cognitive and mental health issues. However, the research also indicates that early intervention—in the form of better nutrition and antiretroviral therapies—may help close the gap. The study is the most recent example of a decades-long collaboration involving an international team of researchers. Since 1994, Gretchen Birbeck, MD, a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, has partnered with the government of Zambia and clinicians and researchers with
the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia. Together, they study neurological problems associated with infectious diseases like HIV and malaria, which remain major public health problems in sub-Saharan Africa.
Solar panels for cells: Light-activated proton pumps generate cellular energy, extend life New research in the journal Nature Aging takes a page from the field of renewable energy and shows that genetically engineered mitochondria can convert light energy into chemical energy that cells can use to ultimately extend the life of the roundworm C. elegans. While the prospect of sunlight-charged cells in humans is more science-fiction than science, the findings shed light on important mechanisms in the aging process. Andrew Wojtovich, PhD, associate professor of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine and Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, found that simply boosting metabolism using light-powered mitochondria gave laboratory worms longer, healthier lives. These findings and new research tools pave the way for researchers to further study mitochondria, identify new ways to treat age-related diseases, and find ways to support a healthier aging process.
Researchers reveal how trauma changes the brain Exposure to trauma can be lifechanging—and researchers are learning more about how traumatic events may physically change our brains. These changes are not happening because of physical injury, rather our brain appears to rewire itself after traumatic experiences. Understanding the mechanisms involved in these changes and how the brain learns about an environment and predicts threats and safety is a focus of the ZVR Lab at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester, which is led by assistant professor Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, PhD. The findings, published in Communications Biology,
2
identified changes in the salience network—a mechanism in the brain used for learning and survival—in people exposed to trauma (with and without psychopathologies, including PTSD, depression, and anxiety). Using fMRI, the researchers recorded activity in the brains of participants as they looked at different-sized circles—only one size was associated with a small shock (or threat). Along with the changes in the salience network, researchers found another difference— this one within the trauma-exposed resilient group. They found the brains of people exposed to trauma without psychopathologies were compensating for changes in their brain processes by engaging the executive control network— one of the dominant networks of the brain.
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER | ERNEST J. DEL MONTE INSTITUTE FOR NEUROSCIENCE