Neuroscientists at University of Iowa Health Care have demonstrated for the first time that non-invasive brain stimulation can alter the activity of a critical deep brain region involved in emotion and memory. Led by Jing Jiang, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics, the study shows that personalizing the stimulation site using a patient’s unique brain connectivity pathway can increase the neuromodulation effect.

Adding TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) to outpatient physical therapy reduced movement-based pain and fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia, and the effects lasted for at least six months, according to a new study led by researchers at University of Iowa Health Care. The study, led by Kathleen Sluka, PT, PhD, professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation science, is the first real-world trial of TENS for fibromyalgia.

Three University of Iowa undergraduates, Nathan Fassett, Ava Vaillant, and Christina Yu, have won the 2026 Iowa Neuroscience Institute Summer Scholar Awards. As INI Summer Scholars, the students receive a stipend of $5,000 and have the opportunity to attend a summer undergraduate seminar series and a variety of informal events.

Becoming the seventh brain bank in the NBB’s network, the Iowa brain bank will bank 100 brains per year with 50 more dedicated to grant-supported investigator projects. UI will receive $1.4 million in funding for the first year of the contract.

Susan Shen, assistant professor of psychiatry in the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, is the first female psychiatrist, the first from Iowa, and only the third psychiatrist overall to receive the highly-competitive Avenir Award from the NIH. The $2.3 million grant is awarded for innovative research by “early-stage” investigators in three focus areas: HIV/AIDS, the genetics and epigenetics of substance use, or the chemistry and pharmacology of substance use.