Keep the human brain healthy Learn more

As the average human life span increases, it is essential to ensure a high quality of life by maintaining brain and mind health. To match the advances in prolonging life, WID researchers seek a fundamental understanding of how the human brain and mind function through -omic profiling, tissue engineering, and predictions about health and disease using electronic health records. This understanding may lead to gene editing methods to correct neural problems, drugs to treat currently untreatable diseases, and methods to protect, repair, or regenerate neural tissue. Healthy brains mean better lives. Much of WID's research contributes to the Healthy Brain Grand Challenge.
Explore WID news and discoveries:

Micro-Molded ‘Ice Cube Tray’ Scaffold is Next Step in Returning Sight to Injured Retinas Featured Science WID's Sarah Gong is part of a team that developed a micro-molded scaffolding photoreceptor "patch" to be implanted under damaged or diseased retinas, the next step in restoring sight. Continue Reading Undergraduate Researcher Helps Fill in the Blanks on Virus Lifecycle Wisconsin Stories Tianyi “Herry” Jin, an undergraduate in John Yin's lab group at WID and the department of chemical and biological engineering, published discoveries about viruses in the journal Integrative Biology. Continue Reading Fixing Genetic Mistakes to Restore Vision Featured Science Shaoqin "Sarah" Gong collaborates on a new approach to target genetic mutations and develop a new therapy for restoring vision in children and adults. Continue Reading NSF Supports Interdisciplinary Pandemic Prevention Workshops WID News WID's John Yin is part of a team assembling February workshops on predictive intelligence for pandemic prevention. Continue Reading UW Engineers and Vision Researchers Develop Stem-cell Therapy for Combat-related Eye Injuries Featured Science Using a microscopic retinal patch, researchers at the University of Wisconsin‒Madison will develop and test a new way to treat United States military personnel blinded in combat with help from engineers including WID's Sarah Gong. Continue Reading UW Researchers Partner with US Department of Defense to Develop Stem Cell Therapy for Combat-Related Eye Injuries WID News Using an ingenious microscopic retinal patch, eye researchers at UW‒Madison will develop and test a new way to treat United States military personnel blinded in combat. WID's Sarah Gong is a collaborator on the project. Continue Reading

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