Dr. Martin Wessendorf is a neuroscientist and an associate professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. His work focuses on how the brainstem controls the function of neurons in the spinal cord. Daniel Wang also researches the brain, with his focus on cognitive neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases.

They are the authors of a new Frontiers in Neuroanatomy article that explores several brain circuits in four-limbed animals that are cross-wired (meaning one side of the brain connects with the opposite side of the body). It proposes a novel hypothesis about how they might have evolved.

Rare variants in a gene involved in early development have been linked to a range of dental differences in people, including missing teeth, unusual tooth shapes, and teeth present at birth. By studying changes in the same gene in mice and chickens, researchers have also uncovered clues to how differences in tooth number and shape evolved across species, including how birds may have lost their teeth.

A new study reveals that plant populations do not always have to settle on either self-fertilization or cross-fertilization. Using evolutionary computer simulations, researchers found a previously unknown “volatile mixed” state in which self-compatible and self-incompatible plants can coexist for long periods, even as their proportions continually change. The findings offer new insight into how plant reproductive strategies evolve and may respond to environmental pressures such as climate change and declining pollinator populations.

Surgical removal of a tumor remains the primary defense against most solid cancers. However, for surgeons in the operating room, differentiating between the outer edges of a tumor and healthy tissue is a challenge. In aggressive, structurally erratic cancers, this boundary can be especially hard to find. Leaving behind even a microscopic cluster of residual cancer cells significantly elevates the risk of the disease returning and spreading throughout the body.

Sadly, surgeons are not afforded a perfect map of the tumor and instead, must rely on limited visual cues and touch. But a UT San Antonio College of Sciences researcher is working to provide that map.

Syed Muhammad Usama, PhD, assistant professor of chemical biology in the Department of Chemistry, is developing a novel molecular “smart probe.” The technology is designed to make hidden cancer cells glow in real time during surgery, giving surgeons cleaner margins and patients lower risk of recurrence.