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Director's Note
This issue, particularly our cover story, may seem a little different, and that’s because it is. I’ve been looking forward to sharing this work with our readers because it showcases what a strong multidisciplinary community like ours can do in a time of great need, even if the task is unlike anything we had ever been confronted with before.
The NIH-funded project, RADx-UP, short for “Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics in Underserved Populations,” coalesced a team of faculty, staff, and leadership, from an array of backgrounds and expertise, to tackle one of the great challenges of our era. How do we keep children with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities and complex medical needs safe and in school as a pandemic rages? You will learn how an unlikely team came together to find solutions and how our partnership with the extraordinary people at the Mary Cariola Center has allowed us to inform national policy. It is a project we unknowingly spent years preparing for, and it is one that has left a considerable mark on all of us. I’m grateful that the NIH designation of our University of Rochester Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (UR-IDDRC) came at just the right time, paving the way to make this project possible.
Our faculty has had another prolific few months. As you read on, discover the new advances in neuroscience that are shaping our understanding of eye-and-hand coordination and neuropsychiatric disorders in teens. Our scientists have also created one of the most detailed 3D images of the synapse—the junction where neurons communicate with each other through an exchange of chemical signals. This 3D technology could transform our understanding of what happens at these connections.
This summer marks year three of the Neuroscience Diversity Commission’s NEUROCITY program. Nine undergraduate students from City College New York are working in our neuroscience labs this summer. We are grateful for the warm welcome and hospitality bestowed on them in their early days in Rochester as they were welcomed to the home of the President of the University for a picnic.
In Science,
