Welsh is director of the UI’s Pappajohn Biomedical Institute. His primary areas of research are cystic fibrosis pathogenesis and therapies, and the influence of brain pH on memory.

About 1,500 University of Iowa students received their degrees at fall 2016 commencement ceremonies Dec. 16–18. “Iowa Now” captured several celebratory moments at the festivities.

A University of Iowa study has shown that stimulation to replace missing brain waves improves cognition in mice lacking dopamine, raising the possibility of using frequency-specific brain stimulation to improve problems caused by Parkinson’s disease.

Robert Bacon, director of Iowa’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) with the Center for Disabilities and Development at UI Health Care, receives the 2016 George S. Jesien Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.

Research from the University of Iowa and the University of California at Davis finds that two different drugs—a beta blocker and an antidepressant—might both have potential for preventing or treating heart failure associated with diabetes by blocking an insulin signaling pathway in heart muscle.

The University of Iowa will award degrees to more than 1,500 graduates during seven ceremonies this weekend.

More than 2,100 patients have been treated at the University of Iowa’s HIV/AIDS clinic since it opened in 1988, and it remains the state’s largest such clinic. Jack Stapleton, director of the clinic and an expert in infectious diseases, talks about how a diagnosis of HIV has changed since then.

The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust has committed a $45 million grant to the University of Iowa that will allow for the creation of a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary neuroscience center within the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.

University of Iowa researchers have shown that most of the extra vials of blood drawn for lab tests never get used and are instead discarded.

The University of Iowa has announced the composition of the search committee for the next vice president for medical affairs and dean of the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. The first meeting of the 17-person committee will be held Thursday, Dec. 1.

The University of Iowa dedicated the new UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital on Nov. 11, 2016. The 14-story, 507,000-square-foot facility will offer private rooms for all patients, eight pediatric operating rooms, a pediatric pharmacy, a playground, gardens, a library, and an interactive theater.

UI researchers believe they may have identified a potential approach for preventing the development of neurological problems associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Their research in mice suggests that protecting axons—the fiber-like projections that connect brain cells—prevents the long-term neuropsychiatric problems caused by blast-related TBI.