Although brain research has seen many major advancements over the past few decades, neuroscientists still face a huge limitation in not having access to human brain tissue for molecular and genetic  research. Until recently, researchers had to rely on post-mortem brains or animal models to study brain development and what may go awry in psychiatric disease. Aislinn Williams, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, who recently joined the Department of Psychiatry and the Iowa Neuroscience Institute, is working to bridge that gap by using stem cells to create neurons, an approach that has emerged in many modern-day research institutes and is becoming more prominently cited in major research journals. (Read more)