News

Nov 15, 2023

Q&A: How does mental health affect sports concussion recovery?

Athletes hitting the field for the fall sports season may want to pay just as much attention to their mental health as their physical health.

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Nikki Crowley, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering and assistant professor of biology and of biomedical engineering, with her son after receiving the Women to Watch: Class of 2023 award as part of the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts’ Women in STEAM Awards. Credit: Nikki Crowley. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 09, 2023

Nikki Crowley honored with Women in STEAM Award by the Whitaker Center

Nikki Crowley, Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology and Neural Engineering and assistant professor of biology and of biomedical engineering, has been named among Women to Watch: Class of 2023 as part of the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts’ Women in STEAM Awards.

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Oct 06, 2023

Girirajan named T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Santhosh Girirajan, professor and interim head of the Penn State Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been named the T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

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Nov 15, 2022

New research on effects of binge drinking earns biologist early career award

Nikki Crowley, assistant professor of biology and biomedical engineering at Penn State, is the 2022 recipient of the Neuropsychopharmacology Editor’s Early Career Award.

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Nov 11, 2022

Breathing may measurably modulate neural responses across brain, study finds

Mental health practitioners and meditation gurus have long credited intentional breathing with the ability to induce inner calm, but scientists do not fully understand how the brain is involved in the process.

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Jul 12, 2022

Penn State biologist receives NIH grant to help unlock biology of binge drinking

Nikki Crowley, assistant professor of biology and of biomedical engineering at Penn State, has been awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health, to study the neurobiology of binge alcohol drinking.

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Mar 03, 2022

Researchers publish how-to guide for monitoring and analyzing brain activity

Penn State researchers have developed a set of tools and methods to better monitor and analyze sleep-related signals and fidgeting in rodent brain studies. Considered the bedrock of biomedical research, rodent studies often provide the first advanced understanding of brain activity and are the foundation on which human studies are eventually built.

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Nikki Beloate, assistant research professor, peers through a microscope in the laboratory of Nanyin Zhang, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the newly established Center for Neurotechnology in Mental Health Research. She is one of several researchers across Penn State who will contribute to the center. Credit: Kelby Hochreither/Penn State. All Rights Reserved.

Nov 09, 2021

Penn State launches Center for Neurotechnology in Mental Health Research

Penn State is launching a University-wide center to bridge fundamental research to understand the brain and mind with potential clinical applications for diagnosing and treating mental health disorders.

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Jul 27, 2020

Researchers to examine relation of dysfunctional brain hubs to mental disorders

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Penn State researchers a $1.85 million grant to develop a new way to test if dysfunctions in certain areas of the brain lead to mental health complications and brain disorders. If successful, the research could lead to better mental health treatments.

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