Aug 21, 2026 | Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Lab-Grown Neocortex Models Mimic Early Brain Organization

Scientists at the University of California (UC), Irvine, have developed a new approach that lets them engineer lab-grown human brain tissue with a defined regional identity. The result is brain organoids with characteristics of either the front or back of the developing cerebral cortex that could be used in studies of how neurodevelopmental disorders develop.

Aug 21, 2026 | Phys.org

Lab-Grown Brain Models Gain a Sense of Place

"Brain organoids have become powerful tools for studying human development, but the human brain is a highly organized space," says lead author Momoko Watanabe, PhD, assistant professor of anatomy and neurobiology in the UC Irvine School of Medicine and a faculty member of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center.

Aug 21, 2026 | Medscape

Questions Surround Where Branded Bevacizumab Will Fit in the Retina Toolbox; It May Be a Matter of Cost

Baruch Kuppermann, MD, PhD, a UCI Health ophthalmologist and chair of the of Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and director of the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute at the University of California, Irvine, told Medscape Medical News that he plans to convert to the new formulation for his patients with nAMD when it becomes available, which may not be until next year.

Aug 17, 2026 | The Scientist

How a Neuroscientist's Genetic Discovery Treated Her Daughter's Epilepsy

“Tracy is very good at bringing scientists and clinicians with very different scopes of expertise to all work together,” said Jennifer Gelinas, a UCI Health neurologist, a pediatric epileptologist and scientist at the University of California, Irvine. “She has been really transformative in terms of helping patients and families to understand their diagnosis, to know what options are available to them, [and] to have a sense of agency and ownership,” said Gelinas.

Aug 14, 2026 | Everyday Health

Is Your Cold Actually COVID? What to Know as the Summer Surge Begins.

“We may anticipate an upswing over the next few weeks before rates come back down as fall approaches,” says Shruti Gohil, MD, associate medical director in the division of epidemiology and infection prevention at UCI Health in Orange, California. … “For most healthy people, given that the new COVID-19 vaccine is imminent, it seems reasonable to await the newest formulation,” says Gohil.

Aug 11, 2026 | NBC San Diego

UC Irvine Research Study How Ibogaine May Help Treat Opioid Addiction

Researchers at UC Irvine are trying to answer one of the biggest questions about ibogaine, a psychedelic that is still illegal in the United States, but which is increasingly becoming a focus for scientists trying to unlock its potential healing power. Professor Rick Harris is the neuroscientist leading the effort, working with volunteers. “Our group is trying to understand how the ibogaine might be working to break addictive circuitry” he says

Aug 11, 2026 | National Institutes of Health

Childhood Screen Detects Mental Health Risk

An NIH-funded research team led by Dr. Tallie Z. Baram at the University of California, Irvine and Dr. Laura Glynn at Chapman University …. added five unpredictability measures to a current adversity screen. They tested whether these measures helped improve the detection of childhood mental health conditions.

Aug 10, 2026 | Medical Xpress

Different Inflammatory Processes Tied to the Same Alzheimer's Disease-Related Brain Shrinkage and Memory Loss

"We keep talking about Alzheimer's as though it is one disease with one cause, but the biology is much messier than that," said senior author Michael A. Yassa, PhD, professor and James L. McGaugh Endowed Chair in Neurobiology and Behavior and director of UC Irvine's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory.

Aug 08, 2026 | Inc.

Scientists Just Discovered a New Brain Phase Between 50 and 75. It May Help Explain Cognitive Decline

“Importantly, this study reveals that aging is not simply a gradual decline, but involves coordinated and dynamic remodeling of immune, vascular, and neuronal systems,” said Xiangmin Xu, PhD, a co-corresponding author and director of the Center for Neural Circuit Mapping at UC Irvine told Sci Tech Daily.

Aug 06, 2026 | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Unpredictability Is an Important Childhood Adversity That a Simple Screen Can Capture, Study Shows

This observation is made by a team led by BBRF Scientific Council member Tallie Z. Baram, MD, PhD, of the University of California Irvine, in a newly published paper in Nature Mental Health reporting on their efforts to test a new screening instrument designed to capture sources of stress and trauma occurring in childhood that may be missed in existing screens