'Big Science, Small Pod' podcast: How does a brain even happen?
Neuroscientist Meike van der Heijden of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC explains how understanding childhood brain development could guide treatments for movement disorders.
The cerebellum hasn’t gotten much love from brain scientists historically, but neurobiologists today are discovering how it works to control motor functions, and how problems in that brain region cause movement disorders.
Research by Meike van der Heijden, neurobiologist and assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the School of Neuroscience of the College of Science, has found that disorders like dystonia and tremors are connected to changes in how nerve cells in the cerebellum communicate.
In a new episode of the podcast "Big Science, Small Pod," van der Heijden says the key to understanding what goes wrong in the cerebellum might lie in understanding normal development in children.
“If we understand what is the timeline of that normal development,” she said, “can we kind of use that to back engineer treatments … in adulthood?”
More about Meike van der Heijden
Van der Heijden is an assistant professor in the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Center for Neurobiology Research, where she investigates development of the brain’s cerebellum and disorders that originate there, including dystonia, ataxia, and tremor.
On the next "Big Science, Small Pod" episode
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About "Big Science, Small Pod"
"Big Science, Small Pod" is a compact guide to the human body and how it works, powered by the world-class scientists of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. We ask fundamental questions about the human body, health, and disease, and get answers from research institute experts, who also tell us how their research illuminates these systems and how to better treat the diseases that affect them.
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