Kelsie Smith Hayduk

Research

Frequently Distracted? Science Says, Blame It on Your Brain Rhythms

• Feb. 25, 2026

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester find that you may not be as focused as you think. A new study discovers our attention shifts multiple times each ...

Research

The Interstate of Science: Merging Neuroscience and AI

• Feb. 25, 2026

Enter a world of possibilities: generate ideas, get answers, have conversations, create endless images. Often, artificial intelligence or large language models, like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, can ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Tanzil Arefin, PhD

• Feb. 25, 2026

Tanzil Arefin, PhD, is an assistant professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center, whose research focuses on developing imaging biomarkers and computational tools to unravel ...

People

Student Spotlight: Lia Calcines-Rodríguez

• Feb. 25, 2026

Lia Calcines-Rodríguez, a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, works in the lab of M. Kerry O’Banion, MD, PhD. Her research investigates sex differences in Alzheimer’s disease. She ...

People

A Gallery: Neuroscientists in Color

• Feb. 3, 2026

Explore how art and neuroscience come together in this inspiring gallery that includes original art and personal narratives from researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the ...

Research

Brain Immune Cells May Drive More Damage in Females than Males with Alzheimer’s

• Dec. 29, 2025

New research led by researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience discovered that the immune cells in the brain, known as microglia, act differently in the male and female Alzheimer’s ...

Research

A Look Back: URochester Neuroscience in 2025

• Dec. 15, 2025

The professional and research advancements of the faculty and students at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester were inspiring in 2025. Inside, you will find some of ...

Research

University of Rochester research featured at annual Society for Neuroscience Conference

• Nov. 26, 2025

Dozens of faculty members, researchers, postdoctoral trainees, and students from programs including Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Science, the Center for Translational Neuromedicine, Immunology, ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Sunday Francis, PhD

• Nov. 19, 2025

The assistant professor of Neuroscience, researches transdiagnostic symptoms (TMS), like compulsivity, of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). She aims to impact individuals regardless of their ...

People

Student Spotlight: Emma Strawderman

• Nov. 19, 2025

Emma Strawderman, an MD/PhD candidate in the Medical Science Training Program, works in the Translational Brain Mapping Program. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of ...

Research

Team Science Showcase: Cracking the Code of Chronic Pain

• Nov. 10, 2025

When tackling a complex problem like chronic pain, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates affects more than 50 million adults in the United States, researchers from a myriad ...

Research

Research Hints at the Potential of Pain Relief with CBD

• Nov. 7, 2025

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester effectively deliver CBD to the brains of mice for neuropathic pain relief with no adverse side effects.

Research

Sex and Age Shape Progression of Batten Disease, Brainwave Study Finds

• Nov. 6, 2025

Researchers from the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that male and female brains show different responses as Batten disease progresses and have found a ...

Research

Millisecond Windows of Time May Be Key to How We Hear, Study Finds

• Sep. 18, 2025

What happens when you listen to speech at a different speed? Neuroscientists thought that your brain may turn up its processing speed as well. But it turns out that at least the auditory part of the ...

Research

Unraveling the Web of Chronic Pain

• Aug. 28, 2025

Chronic pain affects more than 50 million U.S. adults, but it is largely measured through subjective scales. Researchers at the University of Rochester are advancing transdisciplinary approaches to ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Elise Piazza, PhD

• Aug. 28, 2025

Elise Piazza, PhD, is an assistant professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Neuroscience at the University of Rochester. She completed her undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science and Music at ...

People

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Luca Franchini, PhD

• Aug. 28, 2025

Luca Franchini, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Orlandi Lab at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Franchini received his degree in Pharmacy from the University of Bologna, in Italy, and ...

Research

Brain’s Immune Cells Key to Wiring the Adolescent Brain

• Aug. 26, 2025

Making a smoothie, going for an evening walk, or having empathy for a loved one are all examples of executive functions that are controlled by the brain’s frontal cortex. This area of the brain goes ...

Research

Scientists Reveal How Senses Work Together in the Brain

• Aug. 15, 2025

It has long been understood that experiencing two senses simultaneously, like seeing and hearing, can lead to improved responses relative to those seen when only one sensory input is experienced by ...

Research

Researchers Find Brain Immune Cells Regulate Vision Health

• Jul. 24, 2025

During most eye infections or injuries, neutrophils, immune cells found in the blood, are usually the first line of defense. However, researchers at the Flaum Eye Institute and Del Monte Institute ...

Research

Researchers Find “Forever Chemicals” Impact the Developing Male Brain

• Jul. 2, 2025

“Forever chemicals” or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used in consumer and industrial products for the better part of a century, but do not break down in the natural ...

Research

The Long Game: Unraveling the Adolescent Brain

• May. 2, 2025

More than 11,000 kids across America are providing critical information about biological and behavioral brain development, including in Rochester.

People

Faculty Q&A: John Onukwufor, PhD

• May. 2, 2025

John Onukwufor, PhD, is an assistant professor of Pharmacology and Physiology and Environmental Medicine. His research project investigates the role of metal neurotoxicity and mitochondrial ...

People

Student Spotlight: Yue Guzhang

• May. 2, 2025

Yue Guzhang is a fourth-year student in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) Program at the University of Rochester. She received her undergraduate degree in BCS from the University. Guzhang works ...

Research

Researchers Find Temporary Anxiety Impacts Learning

• Apr. 21, 2025

A brief episode of anxiety may have a bigger influence on a person’s ability to learn what is safe and what is not.

Research

What New Research Reveals about Autism, Stimming, and Touch

• Apr. 14, 2025

Researchers at the Golisano Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute find new clues to how people with autism process touch.

People

Faculty Q&A: Karlo J. Lizarraga, MD, MS

• Feb. 2, 2025

Karlo J. Lizarraga, MD, MS, is an associate professor of Neurology and founding director of the Motor Physiology and Neuromodulation Program. He also has appointments in Neuroscience and Neurosurgery.

People

Student Spotlight: Aaron Huynh

• Feb. 2, 2025

Aaron Huynh is a second-year student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. He received his undergraduate degree in brain and cognitive sciences from the ...

Research

Could Small Repeated Head Hits Cause Major Damage?

• Jan. 21, 2025

Study explores how repetitive blows to the head may lead to lasting brain injuries and how potential treatments and limits could change the course.

Research

Brain Immune Cells May also be From Mars and Venus

• Jan. 21, 2025

Researchers find that microglia function differently in males versus females, potentially having broad implications for how neurological diseases are studied.

Research

That's a 'Myelin Sheath!' Top Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Content in '24

• Dec. 19, 2024

The professional and research advancements of the faculty and students at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester were inspiring in 2024. Inside you will find some of ...

Research

Researchers ‘See’ Vulnerability to Gaming Addiction in the Adolescent Brain

• Dec. 9, 2024

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found that adolescents with more symptoms of gaming addiction showed lower brain activity in the region involved ...

Research

Researchers Uncover Possible New Biomarker for Psychosis Diagnosis

• Nov. 25, 2024

The current standard of care for psychosis is a diagnostic interview, but what if it could be diagnosed before the first symptom emerged? Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at ...

Research

How Carol Kellogg Helped Establish One of the Nation's First Undergraduate Neuroscience Programs

• Nov. 11, 2024

In 1980, Neuroscience became an official major at the University of Rochester. Professor Emeritus Carol Kellogg helped make the major official after noticing the students were making independent ...

People

Faculty Q & A: Jamie Capal, MD

• Nov. 11, 2024

Jamie Capal, MD, is the division chief of Child Neurology, Frederick A. Horner, MD, Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Pediatric Neurology and has an appointment in Neurology, Pediatrics, ...

Research

Student Spotlight: Evan Newbold

• Nov. 11, 2024

Evan Newbold is a fifth-year neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience from Lafayette College ...

Education

Neuroscience graduate student awarded diversity fellowship

• Nov. 4, 2024

Victoria Popov, a fifth-year neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry recently received a prestigious diversity award from the National Institute ...

Research

University of Rochester brain research featured at Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago

• Oct. 10, 2024

Several dozen Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester faculty, researchers, and trainees from programs including Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Science, Center for ...

Research

Research finds neurons look different in children with autism

• Oct. 9, 2024

Neuronal measurements could provide new insight into diagnosis & therapeutic interventions for autism

Research

A revolutionary map of the fly brain could change how we study our brains

• Oct. 2, 2024

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking new resource—the FlyWire Connectome, described today in the journal Nature—that maps every neuron and synaptic connection in the central brain of ...

Community

Building on a legacy of intellectual and developmental disabilities research and care

• Jul. 26, 2024

The foundational work of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) related care and research has been underway at the University and Medical Center for more than a half-century. Clinicians ...

Research

Connection speed in the brain may impact how people with autism process visual illusions

• Jul. 22, 2024

Researchers are finding the process in our brain that allows us to see these visual distinctions may not be happening the same way in the brains of children with autism spectrum disorder. They may be ...

Community

Golisano Makes $50 Million Commitment to Build the New Golisano IDD Institute

• Jun. 13, 2024

Entrepreneur, philanthropist, and civic leader B. Thomas “Tom” Golisano has made a historic $50 million commitment to build the Golisano Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Institute at the ...

Research

Can ketones enhance cognitive function and protect brain networks?

• May. 31, 2024

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have identified mechanisms in the brain’s hippocampal network that are rescued by ketones. These findings build ...

Research

Hearing, balance & the brain

• Apr. 25, 2024

The University of Rochester is among the top 20 institutions in the United States in funding for hearing—and balance—related research from the National Institute on Deafness and Communication ...

Research

Batten Research Day fosters collaboration and growth

• Apr. 25, 2024

The University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Research Center (UR-IDDRC) and the University of Rochester Batten Center (URBC) hosted a Batten Research Day in March. The event brought ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Manoela Fogaça, PhD

• Apr. 25, 2024

Manoela V. Fogaça, PhD, is an assistant professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). She received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at ...

People

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Daniel Guest, PhD

• Apr. 25, 2024

Daniel Guest, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Laurel Carney, PhD, at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and his ...

People

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Dana Boebinger, PhD

• Apr. 25, 2024

Dana Boebinger, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow working in the lab of Samuel Norman-Haignere, PhD, at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She received her doctoral degree from Harvard ...

People

URMC Biomedical Genetics Professor named a fellow of the AAAS

• Apr. 18, 2024

Douglas Portman, PhD, holds the Donald M. Foster, MD Professorship in Biomedical Genetics and is a professor of Neuroscience and Biology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, was named a ...

Education

A Match Made; Medical Students Learn Where They Will Train During Nationwide Ceremony

• Mar. 15, 2024

Medical students at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and across the country learned where they will train as residents during the annual Match Day ceremony.

Research

Turns out—male roundworms are picky when choosing a mate, new research finds

• Mar. 11, 2024

The Portman lab at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester discovered that the male roundworms use pheromones and touch signals to determine the sex, age, nutritional ...

Research

Transforming Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research

• Jan. 29, 2024

The University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center is transforming the landscape of exploration.

Education

Student Spotlight: John Gonzalez-Amoretti

• Jan. 29, 2024

John Gonzalez-Amoretti is a 4th year Neuroscience graduate student. He is currently working in the lab of Adam Snyder, PhD, in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at the University of ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Archan Ganguly, PhD

• Jan. 26, 2024

Archan Ganguly, PhD, is an assistant professor of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. His research aims to understand how proteins essential for synaptic communication between ...

Research

Researchers find possible neuromarker for ‘juvenile-onset’ Batten disease

• Jan. 8, 2024

New research suggests an easy-to-measure brain process may be a target or biomarker in measuring treatment outcomes in clinical trials for patients with Batten disease.

Research

Researchers identify path to prevent cognitive decline after radiation

• Jan. 3, 2024

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester find that microglia—the brain’s immune cells—can trigger cognitive deficits after radiation exposure and may be ...

Research

Researchers find neurons work as a team to process social interactions

• Nov. 27, 2023

Researchers have discovered that a part of the brain associated with working memory and multisensory integration, may also play an important role in how the brain processes social cues.

People

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Erin Bojanek, PhD, BS (’14)

• Oct. 23, 2023

Erin Bojanek, PhD, BS (’14), is an instructor in the Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Lab.

Education

Pathway program proves access can cultivate scientists

• Sep. 11, 2023

NEUROCITY alumni pursue research at the University of Rochester following the ten-week summer program that puts undergraduate students from historically marginalized groups in labs across the ...

Research

Wired for research

• Aug. 17, 2023

A biomedical engineering student explores how the brain processes speech syntax—and discovers the benefits of conducting research as an undergraduate.

People

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Allison Murphy, PhD

• Jul. 24, 2023

Allison Murphy, PhD (’23), a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Farran Briggs, PhD, received a doctoral degree in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Her ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Lars A. Ross, PhD

• Jul. 24, 2023

Lars A. Ross, PhD, is a research assistant professor of Imaging Sciences and Neuroscience at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He came to University of Rochester Medical Center in late ...

Research

Protecting the vulnerable, informing the future

• Jul. 24, 2023

This is not another story about COVID. This is a story about how a group of scientists—including a neuroscientist, virologist, and nephrologist—and school leadership rolled up their sleeves, stepped ...

Research

URMC researcher receives $8.3 million to study chronic pain and the brain

• Jul. 19, 2023

Understanding the role of chronic pain in the brain could transform treatment and care for a condition that inflicts more than 20 percent of US adults. An associate professor of Psychiatry at URMC ...

Research

AI helps show how the brain’s fluids flow

• Jun. 14, 2023

A new artificial intelligence-based technique for measuring fluid flow around the brain’s blood vessels could have big implications for developing treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Research

A chance observation finds potential hearing biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease

• Jun. 7, 2023

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found where plaques are found in the brain may impact hearing in Alzheimer's disease.

Research

Research finds prediction may be key to eye-and-hand coordination

• Jun. 5, 2023

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that the ability to visually predict movement may be an important part of the ability to make a great ...

Research

Researchers find possible target for treating neuropsychiatric disorders in teens

• Jun. 1, 2023

The brain continuously changes during childhood and throughout adolescence. The onset of neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia often begins during young adulthood. Dysfunction of the dopamine ...

Research

Ania Majewska, PhD, named co-director of UR-IDDRC

• May. 15, 2023

Ania Majewska, PhD, professor of Neuroscience, joins John Foxe, PhD, as co-director of the University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (UR-IDDRC).

Research

Research continues to rule out brain’s immune system as key to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

• May. 8, 2023

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester continue to find evidence that the brain’s immune system may not be the culprit behind fetal alcohol spectrum ...

Research

Researchers find rhythmic brain activity helps to maintain temporary memories

• Apr. 24, 2023

New research shows that rhythmic brain activity is key to temporarily maintaining important information in memory. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of ...

People

Student Spotlight: Mark Osabutey, MBChB

• Apr. 24, 2023

Mark Osabutey, MBChB, is a 2nd-year Neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Osabutey has a medical degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and ...

Research

Possible ‘steps’ to revealing super-agers

• Apr. 13, 2023

On the quest for the proverbial fountain of youth, scientists have long looked for evidence of super-agers—people whose brain ages slower than their body. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for ...

Research

The stars in the brain may be information regulators

• Mar. 31, 2023

URMC researcher explores how astrocytes may be a key player in the brain’s ability to process external and internal information simultaneously. He argues research on these cells is necessary to ...

Education

Tearing with Tradition: Aspiring Doctors Learn Where They Will Train on Match Day

• Mar. 17, 2023

At noon on Friday, March 17, aspiring doctors from across the country opened envelopes. Inside, students learned which institution they will train at as residents. It was the annual Match Day ...

Research

Iron & the brain: Where and when neurodevelopmental disabilities may begin during pregnancy

• Mar. 6, 2023

The cells that make up the human brain begin developing long before the physical shape of the brain has formed. This early organizing of a network of cells plays a major role in brain health ...

Research

Small, involuntary eye movements help us see a stable world

• Feb. 24, 2023

Involuntary, fixational eye movements play a bigger role in vision than researchers previously thought.

Research

Can hearing loss be reversed? Research reveals clues that could regrow the cells that help us hear

• Feb. 13, 2023

The most common cause of hearing loss is progressive because these hair cells—the primary cells to detect sound waves—cannot regenerate if damaged or lost. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for ...

Research

Wiggles & wings: The model systems transforming neuroscience

• Jan. 27, 2023

Genetic model organisms are truly invaluable to the field of neuroscience. Many of the discoveries made using C. elegans and Drosophila apply throughout the animal kingdom, and this research has led ...

People

Student Spotlight: Johanna Fritzinger

• Jan. 27, 2023

Johanna Fritzinger is a fourth-year Neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Fritzinger graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a BS in Electrical ...

People

Faculty Q&A – Peter Shrager, PhD

• Jan. 27, 2023

Peter Shrager, PhD, is a professor of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). In 1971, Shrager came to URMC to work in what was then the ...

Research

Researchers identify neurons that "learn" to smell a threat

• Jan. 24, 2023

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience have found new clues to how the olfactory sensory system aids in threat assessment and have found neurons that “learn” if a smell is a threat. ...

Research

New grant will use virtual reality to understand trauma and the brain

• Dec. 14, 2022

Understanding how experience and exposure to trauma changes the brain could improve diagnosis and targeted care for conditions like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Benjamin ...

Research

Researchers reveal how trauma changes the brain

• Dec. 7, 2022

Researchers have found exposure to traumatic events may physically change the brain, including the mechanism used for learning and survival. These findings could significantly advance future ...

Research

A serendipitous discovery and the choreographed dance of fragile X research

• Oct. 18, 2022

Fragile X syndrome is the most common known single-gene cause of inherited IDDs, including autism. Scientists know the misstep in this syndrome is in the gene responsible for making a protein ...

Education

Student Spotlight: MaKenna Cealie

• Oct. 18, 2022

MaKenna Cealie is a fourth year in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD). The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ...

People

Faculty Q&A: Emily Knight

• Oct. 17, 2022

Emily Knight, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Neuroscience and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Her research aims to understand neural mechanisms of sensory ...

Education

Neuroscience students and post-doc honored at ceremony to kick-off academic year

• Sep. 22, 2022

The Awards and Philosophy Meeting at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry kicked off the 2022-2023 academic year. During the ceremony a postdoctoral associate and a number of ...

Research

The prose of Dr. Seuss shines a light on how the brain processes speech

• Sep. 21, 2022

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience have expanded the understanding of how the brain is engaged during complex audiovisual speech perception.

Research

Mild traumatic brain injury increases risk of behavioral and emotional problems in kids

• Sep. 13, 2022

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience have found that kids who experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI), even a mild one, have more emotional and behavioral problems than kids who ...

Education

The White Coat Ceremony: 110 Students Mark the Beginning of Medical School

• Aug. 12, 2022

The incoming class of medical students at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry receive their white coats in a traditional ceremony.

Research

Many minds, many methods, one brain

• Jul. 21, 2022

The hum of a treadmill in the distance greets you stepping off the elevator into the Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory at the University of Rochester. The ...

People

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Aaron Nidiffer, Ph.D.

• Jul. 20, 2022

Aaron Nidiffer, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Edmund Lalor, Ph.D. His research focuses on how the brain interprets visual speech and simultaneously processes two different types of ...

Research

The brains of children with autism may not always ‘see’ body language

• Jul. 18, 2022

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that children with autism spectrum disorder may not always process body movements effectively, ...

People

Majewska honored by NINDS for exceptional mentorship

• Jun. 21, 2022

Ania Majewska, Ph.D., has been named a 2022 Landis Award for Outstanding Mentorship awardee by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for her dedication to superior ...

Research

Walking gives the brain a ‘step-up’ in function for some

• Jun. 17, 2022

It has long been thought that when walking is combined with a task – both suffer. Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester found that this is not always ...

Research

How the brain interprets motion while in motion

• Jun. 15, 2022

New findings about how the brain interprets sensory information may have applications for treating brain disorders and designing artificial intelligence.

Research

New research finds the risk of psychotic-like experiences can start in childhood

• Apr. 25, 2022

Research has long focused on the impact environmental and socio-economic factors – including income disparity, family poverty, and air pollution – have on increasing a person’s risk of developing ...

Research

Diverse minds and determined hearts make change: Forging equitability in Neuroscience

• Apr. 25, 2022

The Neuroscience Diversity Commission has a simple but powerful purpose – to fundamentally change the bench. The group was formed in 2020 and has been meeting bi-weekly since. Made up of mostly ...