Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children may be associated with problems with the health of the placenta during late pregnancy, according to a new study by University of Iowa Health Care researchers. The findings, published in JAMA Psychiatry, helps to identify a risk factor in pregnancy that is linked to ADHD in children, and potentially points to new treatment targets for ADHD.

University of Iowa postdoctoral fellow Maddie Mocchi, PhD, has won a 2026 Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. The two-year, $70,000 grant helps promising young scientists launch careers in neuroscience and psychiatry, supporting either extended research fellowship training or starting a research lab as a junior faculty member.

University of Iowa graduate students Narges Firouzshahi and Chris Hunter have won the 2026 Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship from the Iowa Neuroscience Institute. This award goes to upper-level graduate students working in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. Each will receive $5,000.

In a new study, neuroscientists found that adults who use speech and hand gestures when interacting with their child achieve “neural synchrony,” where brain waves in the parent match their child’s. Ece Demir-Lira, associate professor in the UI Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the study’s corresponding author, says combining words with hand gestures can be applied by parents and teachers alike.

A University of Iowa-led research team has shown in detail how a region of the brain called the frontoparietal cortex manages the flow of information and guides decisions and responses. The findings may inform future research into how this process is altered in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Targeting metabolic energy production may lead to new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

Findings have implications for sleep-related sudden death disorders, and emotional and cognitive health

Results offer insight into the anatomy of cognitive deficits in neurological and psychiatric disorders

In a scientific first, researchers at University of Iowa Health Care recorded responses from single neurons in the human insula—a brain region linked to emotional processing and perception of bodily sensations—while the participants listened passively to simple sounds.

Maddie Mocchi, PhD, was selected as a 2026 Dare to Discover honoree in acknowledgement of her postdoctoral work studying how to better diagnose, track, and treat depression to improve long-term outcomes for those suffering from the disorder.