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Impaired cognition—operations of the brain that enable people to understand and react to the world that surrounds them—is one of the aspects of schizophrenia that makes it hard for patients to function successfully in society.

It’s been estimated that a human brain contains 100 trillion connections between some 100 billion neurons. How is such a monstrous wiring job accomplished? One possibility is that there is a complete wiring plan encoded in our genes. But another explanation is that the initial genetic plans are simple, and complexity arises from relatively simple interactions between growing cells.

If you were to take a human brain and toss it in a blender — not that you should — the resulting slurry of cells wouldn’t be special in the way that the human brain is. No thoughts, no worries, no wonder or awe.

Pilot grants open door to better mental health care

(SACRAMENTO) — The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence at UC Davis has awarded three pilot grants for projects designed to improve mental health for Californians.

 UC Davis' Behavioral Health Center of Excellence has awarded three grants for new approaches to improving mental health in California.

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The immune responses of a female mouse before pregnancy can predict how likely her offspring are to have behavioral deficits if the immune system is activated during pregnancy, according to researchers from the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis.

Take the human brain. As the source of consciousness, this three-pound organ, composed of roughly 86 billion neurons, holds the keys to understanding the human condition, both in its healthy and diseased states.

It’s never a dull day at UC Davis for Lisa Laughlin! As the Safety and Facilities Manager for the Center for Neurosciences Campus, Lisa spends her time making sure all buildings are safe and sound.

While working at the Center, Lisa oversees various environments. From wet and dry labs, cognitive computational system labs and tissue culture labs, to vivarium spaces, study rooms and office spaces, Lisa makes sure all areas are secured. She is also tasked with making sure accessibility is closely monitored as certain areas are restricted.

(DAVIS) Mental health research at the University of California, Davis, has received dedicated endowed support thanks to Bryan Cameron ’80, director of research and senior vice president at Dodge & Cox Investment Managers.

Cameron, a member of the UC Davis Chancellor’s Board of Advisors, gave a $1.5 million gift, to which the UC Office of the President added $500,000, to establish the C. Bryan Cameron Presidential Chair.

“This table feels hard,” said Assistant Professor Rishidev Chaudhuri, who sat in his office at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience. “That’s something that emerges at the collective population level.”

How individual particles come together to spontaneously create new structures is a question pondered by many physicists. The concept underlying that question—collective behavior—also intrigues neuroscientists.

David Amaral, distinguished professor and Beneto Foundation Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the MIND Institute, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine.

An autism expert, Amaral joins an elite group of physicians and scientists in the National Academy of Medicine. Only 100 new members are elected each year from the U.S. He is one of 13 UC Davis faculty members who have been elected to the Academy since its founding in 1970 and the only one from UC Davis elected this year.

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum site.

Exposure to infection in utero may speed up the expression of many genes linked to autism — and hasten changes in brain anatomy.

The results are in mice but hint at how infections during pregnancy may contribute to autism.

Consciousness, perception, memory, behavior. Questions about how exactly our brains carry out these functions, and much more, have long tantalized neuroscientists. Definitive answers aren’t easy to come by in science, but one thing is clear to Professor W. Martin Usrey, of the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior.