News

Professionally, Clare Essex lives in two worlds. Within the lab of Laurie Sanders, PhD, and Carol Colton, PhD, in the Duke Neurology Department, she’s working part-time to improve understandings the genetic underpinnings of neurodegenerative disease. Essex spends the other half of her work week as a medical scribe at UNC REX Hospital in Raleigh.

The first month of 2022 saw the publication of 18 new peer-reviewed journal articles from members of the Duke Neurology Department. Highlights include a new article in Lancet Neurology discussing the epidemiology, diagnostics, and  biomarkers of autoimmune neuromuscular junction disorders, case reports describing the progression and treatment options for rare neurological conditions, and a summary of how the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic affects neurology residency programs in the United States.

The second half of 2021 was as eventful as the first for the Duke Neurology Department. Story highlights from July through December of this year include our Leonard White, PhD, winning a national award for excellence in teaching, the founding of a joint Duke/UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, two of our hospitals receiving the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s highest award for quality stroke care, and the School of Medicine receiving  awards totaling $18 million to uncover the origins of Parkinson’s disease.

The Duke Neurology Department continued to grow and expand its missions of providing excellent clinical care, conducting research to improve our understanding of neurological conditions and how to treat them, and training the next generation of neurologists throughout 2021.

Jeison Valencia has been inspired to pursue science and laboratory research since age 7, after he watched an episode of the Powerpuff Girls, in which a scientist creates the three female superheroes. Now, as a member of the Chiba-Falek lab, the lab technician is performing analyses on brain tissue to better understand the roots of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 14 new peer-reviewed journal articles written this November. Highlights include an analysis of fragmentation within the delivery of neurological health care, an examination of racial disparities in the use of telehealth, and a discussion of the best ways to use social medicine to share news on epilepsy and clinical neurophysiology. Read the paragraphs below for short summaries of each of these 14 articles, as well as links to the original entries themselves.

Memory Disorders

This October, members of the Duke Neurology Department contributed to 12 new peer-reviewed journal articles, advancing our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, chronic pain, and other conditions. These articles include discussions of the best framework for neuroscience curricula for medical students, the discovery of an existing experimental drug which offers a new avenue for treating pain without potential addiction issues, and an examination of the viability of ketogenic diets as an alternative treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Within the lab of Carlene Moore, PhD, Ashley Moore, MS, MAT, (no relation) does “a little bit of everything,” acting as a lab manager, performing western blots, teaching and guiding undergraduate research students and more--and that’s just how she likes it. For this week’s Spotlight interview, Moore talks to us about this work, how her five years of experience as a public school teacher inform her work, and loving concerts and baking for family and friends when she’s not at work.

New research from the Duke Neurology Department provided insights into our ability to improve patient care and better understand neurological conditions. The 11 studies featuring our faculty, staff, and trainees published this September include the discovery of an HIV medication’s surprising potential to treat dystonia, an analysis of brain tumor patients admitted to intensive care, and a personal story of one faculty member’s grandfather, who lived through the ups and downs of a century of health care in the United States.

Mengyi (Miko) Liu first became interested in bioinformatics and computational biology during her sophomore year of college, when she learned about the depth and breadth of information those fields could bring to health care. Now, she’s a PhD student within the lab of Simon Gregory, PhD, where she’s studying the tumor microenvironment of brain cancer.