Erik Roberson, M.D., Ph.D., has been named interim chair of the @uabheersink Department of Neurology, effective Oct. 1, 2026. We look forward to his leadership! Read more: buff.ly/TLo3vUA

A study led by Pinar Demirayak, Ph.D., in the lab of Kristina Visscher, Ph.D., was published in the Journal of Neuroscience and explores how experience reshapes neural connections to fit the brain's networks to its environment. Read more: buff.ly/LrWoB29

Ava Piper, a doctoral student in UAB's Behavioral Neuroscience program and director of Brain Snacks, demonstrates the PTC paper experiment, a favorite activity of the Neuroscience for All outreach program. Read more: buff.ly/lDlxJXS

A study led by Dr. Jacques Wadiche and Dr. Linda Overstreet-Wadiche was published in Nature Neuroscience. Their work is a testament to the power of collaboration — built on years of shared experiments and ideas between neighboring labs. Read more: buff.ly/UHbl4KV

MIT published a brutally honest report on what AI is doing to students. A committee of professors and students spent five months studying how AI changed learning on campus, and the findings read like a warning to every university on the planet. Study groups are disappearing. Office hours are emptying out. Problem sets and take-home exams no longer prove anything, because AI can produce credible solutions to almost any written assignment in the undergraduate curriculum. Students who lean on chatbots lose mastery and confidence, and some slip into what the report calls cognitive surrender, reaching for AI at the first hint of struggle. The numbers are rough. 46 percent of surveyed MIT undergrads use LLMs daily. 90 percent worry about their own overreliance. Undergrads who feel AI makes them replaceable now outnumber those who feel it makes them capable. The committee's answer surprised me. They refused to fight AI with surveillance. The report calls AI detectors unreliable, says lockdown browsers feel like spying, and warns that policing students builds a classroom atmosphere of mutual distrust. Instead, MIT wants to rebuild education around the things AI can't replace. That means oral exams, semester portfolios, in-person project work, and a required social component in every subject. The report even floats the idea of rethinking grades entirely, since without a GPA to optimize, much of the incentive to cheat with AI evaporates. The committee warns professors against replacing undergrad research assistants with AI agents just because they're cheaper, because a university exists to grow people, not output. The most famous tech school on earth admitted the machines broke its way of teaching. Its answer is more humans, not more software.

Marissa Natelson Love, M.D., has been selected as a recipient of the Association of Academic Leaders of Neurology (AALN) Faculty Leadership Award. Congratulations, Dr. Natelson Love! Read more: buff.ly/tneiVyO @UABHeersink

Congratulations to Dr. Kirstie Cummings and Dr. HaoSheng Sun (@UABCDIB) on receiving the 2026-2027 FCIDD McNulty Civitan Scientist Award! Read more: buff.ly/flMzx2X @UABHeersink @UABNews @UABMedicine

A recent study on gene therapy for frontotemporal dementia, led by Erik Roberson, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the @UABHeersink Department of Neurology, was featured in @alzforum! Congratulations, Dr. Roberson! 👏 Read here: buff.ly/oCBpD53

With the passing of Wendell Berry, a great voice of the Soul leaves us. May we keep it alive.

Erik D. Roberson, M.D., Ph.D., Shreya Kashyap, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephanie Fox, Ph.D., are exploring a way to improve gene therapy for frontotemporal dementia (FTD) at the @UABHeersink Dept. of Neurology. Read more: buff.ly/rrDqnsF

Dr. Farah Lubin and Dr. Jasper Heinsbroek are among the eight inaugural recipients of the Heersink School of Medicine’s 2026 Team Science Grant Program. Read more: buff.ly/Jv5xd7i @uabbme @UABPathology @UABPsychiatry @UABHeersink @UABNews @UABMedicine

A two-in-one gene-therapy approach delivers a form of progranulin that blocks its interaction with a cell0sorting protein. It restores cell function in mice. @UABNews ow.ly/q62i50ZCIyt

Dr. Kristina Visscher joined John Mountz of the Alabama Radio Network to discuss Neuroscience for All—a community-based initiative that combines hands-on learning with basic neuroscience concepts. Listen to the full episode: buff.ly/N6ohyta @UABHeersink @UABNews

New Phase 2 data from Biogen shows the drug diransersen reduced tau in the blood and brain and slowed cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer’s. The drug works by blocking tau formation, without the side effects sometimes seen with amyloid-targeting therapies. Read about this and other Alzheimer’s news from #AAIC26: brightfocus.org/news/breakin…

Inspired by childhood visits to a science museum, UAB's Kristina Visscher, Ph.D., created Neuroscience for All to bring hands-on neuroscience experiences directly to the Birmingham community. @UNeurobiology uab.edu/news/health-medicine…

UAB neuroscientist Kristina Visscher leads Neuroscience for All, a community initiative bringing hands-on brain science education to Birmingham through outreach programs, partnerships and interactive learning experiences. go.uab.edu/3SHqoms

UAB pic of the day. 📷 : Andrea Mabry