Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/978383
U I L L I N O I S M E D I C I N E | 17 Understanding the complexities of the human brain, and expanding the possibilities to prevent or treat the sometimes-devastating diseases that affect brain health, are among the elusive pieces of a complex medical puzzle. College of Medicine researchers are working with colleagues from around the University of Illinois at Chicago campus and beyond to crack the code, attempting to understand the structure and function of the brain itself by using big data to decipher cures for degenerative diseases; de- veloping quantitative tools that optimize treatment for stroke patients; and finding the most effective treatments to improve mental-health issues. Energized by the priority placed on brain health research by UIC Chancellor Michael D. Amiridis, PhD, faculty from such diverse disciplines as biology, bioengineering, psychology, neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, and anatomy and cell biology are collaborating across campus with one focus: creating discoveries and advancements in the areas of brain health that will most directly benefit patients. They are making progress on all fronts. Anatomy and cell biology: Deciphering degenerative diseases TO GET TO THE ROOT OF BR AIN DISEASE, the depart- ment of anatomy and cell biology begins with the basics: trying to understand the structure and capabilities of the human brain. "The brain is the most complicated machine of which we are aware on this planet," says Simon Alford, PhD, department head and the Mary & Raymond Nester Sweeney Professor of Basic Sciences. "In the last 30 years, we've discovered more about the brain than mankind had previously learned throughout history, and we're still just scratching the surface." Alford and others in his department, such as Scott Brady, PhD, are expanding the fundamental knowledge of how the brain works—necessary to address the diseases that impact it—through research that bridges cellular biology and neuroscience. Their research focuses on the mechanisms and effects of synaptic plasticity, meaning changes that occur at synapses, the junc- tions between neurons that allow them to communicate. "We need to How Illinois Medicine is unraveling one of medicine's biggest mysteries HEALTH