News & Discoveries

Improving Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease with AI

A team at UCSF developed a multitask deep learning framework that can effectively predict Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, cognitive scores, and future cognitive decline using only baseline MRI and demographics.

How to Overcome Global Price Barriers for New Alzheimer’s Drugs

UCSF and Trinity College Dublin researchers determine cost-effective thresholds for Alzheimer’s-modifying therapies in 174 countries. In the last few years, progress has been made in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease with a class of therapies called anti-amyloid antibodies (anti-Aβ). These…

Can Blockbuster GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs Also Protect Brain Health?

UCSF experts share their research on medications’ potential to slow or reduce risk of dementia and to treat the triggers that drive addiction. Multiple clinical trials have shown that GLP-1s are safe and effective for patients with obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular conditions. New evidence…

HD Probes Show for the First Time How Epileptic ‘Brain Blips’ Occur

Scientists at UCSF discovered that these tiny bursts of electrical activity can be detected up to a second before they start. Epilepsy physicians Jon Kleen and Eddie Chang used high-resolution technology to see how cognition is disrupted in people with epilepsy and predict when it will occur. The…

New Study Asks, Can Probiotics Help Reduce Depression in Teens?

UCSF's Cherry Leung, associate professor of community health systems with the UC San Francisco School of Nursing, researches the gut-brain axis as a potential adjunct therapy for improving adolescent mental health.

Freeze-Dried Platelet Product Slows Swelling and Bleeding In TBI

Freeze-dried human platelets could be used as a "molecular tourniquet" for brain bleeds in the minutes to hours after a traumatic brain injury, according to a UCSF team led by Shibani Pati. The scientists envision stocking ambulances and EDs with the product.

From Magic Mushrooms to LSD: A Peek Inside Medicine’s Psychedelic Promise

UCSF research shows psychedelics like psilocybin may treat depression, Parkinson’s, and addiction, offering new hope in clinical trials.

New Spine Surgery Chief Shapes UCSF’s Status as Global Leader

Rajiv Sethi, MD, PhD, has been appointed chief of the UCSF Division of Orthopaedic Spine Surgery, one of the nation’s premier spine programs. He has also been named co-director of the UCSF Spine Center and UCSF system medical director of Value-Based Musculoskeletal Initiatives. He assumed his new…

What’s Driving the Rise in Red Tides That Threaten Human Health?

Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds tells the story of how algal blooms can affect wildlife and human health, and explains why real UCSF scientists are working to track them. UCSF researchers are studying how climate change fuels toxic algal blooms, partnering with global and tribal communities to…

Scientists Discover How Multiple Sclerosis Kills Neurons

Inflammation caused by the disease damages DNA in neurons that are essential to higher thinking. Researchers discover that the nerve cells that make us uniquely human are also uniquely vulnerable to dying during the waves of inflammation that occur in multiple sclerosis.