URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Winter_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

Weyandt’s work on pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “There are obvious connections with collaborating with faculty in the College of Pharmacy,” Weyandt says. “Our current work combines a clinical approach with basic science. I am working with Tara White, assistant professor of behavioral and social sciences at Brown University on a study to explore whether prescription stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall are truly neuro- cognitive enhancers.” In other words, would medications prescribed to treat ADHD have a positive effect on learning and cognition for persons who don’t have the disorder? “If we’re truly going to understand the brain and clinical disorders, we need multiple perspectives: chemical, molecular, physiological, cognitive, behavioral,

that NIH is excited about. Having the INP makes it easier to do what we want to do because we have many different experts here who can communicate and work together.” While much of the research and product development being done by faculty in the INP focuses on disorders and disease detection and treatment, others complement the brain research in intriguing ways that might not be so obvious. Haibo He, an electrical, computer and biomedical engineering associate professor, and a colleague of Besio’s, focuses on the development of computer intelligence that can replicate aspects of human intelligence. “With the recent development of brain research and modern technologies,” he says, “scientists and engineers will, hopefully, find efficient ways to build brain-like complex systems that are highly robust, adaptive and tolerant to certain environments.” He explains that ideas have been borrowed from intelligent systems to develop robots to perform certain tasks, but scientists and engineers have not been able to design “truly brain-like, general purpose intelligent machines.” He and his colleagues work on the challenge of developing complex mathematical formulas that might some day achieve an intelligent machine that could think like a person to solve risky problems in a safer manner than humanly possible. Zawia says, “URI had a strong biomedical presence, but needed a similarly strong neuroscience one as well. Once we started to meet, collaborations began even before we formed the graduate program. There is unlimited growth potential with this.”

Lisa Weyandt, professor of psychology

The professors’ research of the Hydra’s nerve network has shown more evidence of centralization than was believed to be the case. They study the functional organization of the nerve network and map portions of it to identify synaptic connections focusing on neurotransmitters, the neurons that send signals to receptors that control motion and activity. “Ultimately we are after the receptors and proteins involved in these nerve systems,” Hufnagel says. “Receptors are important factors in drug dependency, for instance, so there is a lot of practical application from all this.” INP faculty work in clinical areas as well as in lab research. Mahler and her graduate students, for example, employ therapeutic techniques to help Parkinson’s patients improve speech capability. With more than two decades of experience as a speech pathologist in hospitals, Mahler is breaking new ground to make simple, practical gains in improving the lives of patients with neurological disorders. Her work is designed to improve brain function through principles of motor learning. The result is not just improved speech, but better brain function in controlling that speech. Yet another area of research and clinical application happens with Understanding the Brain

Leslie Mahler , associate professor of communicative disorders

neuropsychological,” Weyandt says. “In that kind of environment, not only do faculty collaborate, but students learn to think from an interdisciplinary perspective. This is the future of research and clinical treatment of the brain.” The first Ph.D. student from the INP, Kyle Scully, graduated in 2014. He worked on a collaboration funded by the NIH that supported development of new drugs for treatment of epilepsy, which is Worthen’s primary area of research. “I have worked with a few other faculty before, but this creates more opportunities for collaboration,” Worthen says. “This particular work is an anti-convulsant screening program. We have compounds

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