Internship

The CNS regulates the function of many organs in the body largely through the autonomic nervous system. In various conditions such as Parkinson's, diabetes, heart failure, hypertension and stress, CNS adaptations contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease state. Work at UNMC is focused on understanding these mechanisms so that effective therapeutic interventions can be identified.

Researchers at UNMC interested in cognition and behavior use behavioral, functional brain imaging, and electrophysiological techniques to examine brain dysfunction in disease.

Addiction to alcohol, opiates, cocaine and methamphetamine is an expanding public health problem. This problem is amplified by how abused drugs lead to or worsen many other health problems including cancer, cardiovascular, infectious diseases, and psychiatric disorders. Researchers at UNMC are working to determine the underlying molecular mechanisms by which drugs of abuse impair CNS function, manifest addiction, and worsen other diseases.

Many researchers at UNMC focus on the role of the immune system in neurological diseases and in neural complications of AIDS infection. Inflammation is a major mechanism in which the brain responds to a variety of injuries. Whether it be AIDS, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease (AD), traumatic brain injury or Juvenile Batten Disease neurons are not always directly destroyed by the insult. Disease can occur indirectly through glia cells by setting off a chain of biochemical events that produce toxins and inflammation that can compromise neuronal cell signaling and ultimately destroy neurons. Substance abuse can interact with the immune system and other cellular components to worsen neurological and neuroinfectious diseases. UNMC researchers use a wide diversity of techniques and experimental approaches to solve these questions.

A central question in Neuroscience relates to how the genome and experience interact to modulate brain structure and function. Another major question is how the molecular and cellular structure of the brain underlies brain function and brain dysfunction. For example, in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders (e.g., epilepsy, ischemia, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia), specific neurotransmitter signaling systems appear to be dysfunctional. Neuroscientists at UNMC use a variety of genetic, electrophysiological, anatomical, molecular, and biochemical techniques to understand these questions.