6 top research stories of 2022
Researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences have been hard at work tackling some of the key questions and challenges that face humanity, from understanding debilitating mental illness to discovering the sources of our memories.
Coverage of their research proved popular with our audience, racking up tens of thousands of reads. Here are the stories that caught your eye this year.
Brain researcher shows where memories are stored
Using a new type of cell labeling and a custom-made microscope invented at USC, neurobiologist Don Arnold and his co-researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering successfully captured the formation of memories in larval zebrafish.
The study showed that synapses — nerve connections — in one part of the brain are eliminated and new ones are created in a different region when memories are formed. These changes in synapses may help explain how memories are formed and why certain kinds of memories are stronger than others. This study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January.
Scientists reveal where schizophrenia may originate in the brain
Mutations in a protein called synapse-associated protein 97, or SAP97, that is found in neurons in the brain, have been linked to a 40-fold increase in the risk of developing schizophrenia.
New research led by biologist Bruce Herring has helped to identify a region of the brain where these mutations may be making their impact. Studying rats with damaged SAP97, the researchers found changes in activity in the dentate gyrus, which is located within the hippocampus and controls a specific type of memory.
The results, published in February in Nature Communications, are the first to confirm where in the brain SAP97 is active and to directly link alterations in dentate gyrus function to the development of schizophrenia.
Findings pinpoint a protein that could be key to migraines
Scientists at USC Dornsife found that blocking or removing a protein called TRPM8 in mice prevented them from experiencing migraine-like symptoms. In previous work, the researchers determined that TRPM8, found in nerve cells, is important for sensing cold, including the cool sensation of menthol.
“Our results confirm the importance of TRPM8 in migraines that was suggested by human genome-wide association studies and implicate the protein as a potentially important component of the pathology that leads to migraine. Thus, other scientists or clinicians can now add TRPM8 to their models of migraine and potential targets for treatment,” said David McKemy, professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife and corresponding author on the study, which was published in the journal PAIN in April.
Study finds diet soda may impair memory function
A study published in September online in the journal JCI Insight, USC Dornsife scientists showed that adolescent rats that consumed the low-calorie sweeteners saccharin, stevia and Ace-K exhibited long-term impairments in memory. Rats consuming sweetener were less likely to remember an object or the path through the maze than those that drank only plain water.
“While our findings do not necessarily indicate that someone should not consume low-calorie sweeteners in general, they do highlight that habitual low-calorie sweetener consumption during early life may have unintended, long-lasting impacts,” said Scott Kanoski, associate professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife.
Professor discovers how COVID-19 makes variants so quickly
Most coronaviruses don’t mutate very quickly but, to the bafflement of scientists, COVID-19 does, producing a rapid string of variants like Omicron. Xiaojiag Chen, professor of biological sciences and chemistry at USC Dornsife, published a study in Scientific Reports in September that found the first experimental evidence explaining why the COVID-19 virus produces variants so swiftly.
Chen and his team discovered that the virus hijacks enzymes within human cells that normally defend against viral infections and uses those enzymes to alter its genome and make variants. This knowledge could help researchers as they work to develop better vaccines to stop the spread of the disease.
Fatherhood changes brains, find psychologists
A small study of expectant fathers, co-led by USC Dornsife psychologist Darby Saxbe, found several significant changes in the brains of fathers from prenatal to postpartum that did not emerge within the childless men they followed across the same time period. Fathers’ brain changes appeared in regions of the cortex that contribute to visual processing, attention and empathy toward the baby.
These findings have garnered considerable media attention, even capturing the attention of late night talk show host Stephen Colbert.