Tracy Fischer, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center, led a study published in Nature Communications, investigating how COVID-19 affects the central nervous system. The research team found severe brain inflammation and injury consistent with reduced blood flow or oxygen to the brain, including neuron damage and death. Microhemorrhages, or small bleeds in the brain, were also present. Surprisingly, these findings were seen in subjects that did not experience severe respiratory disease from the virus.

Hannah Frank, an assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology and bat expert, is sharing in a $1.25 million award with scientists from other universities to study how to mitigate zoonotic threats. Zoonotic disease — diseases from non-humans that can infect humans — are an increasing problem and threat to human health and well-being. Bats are a particularly important group to understand because they can spread and shed infections including SARS-CoV-2, which do not cause disease in bats but are highly lethal to humans and other animals.

More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioral health concerns continue to disrupt the lives of Americans, and addressing those concerns should be a priority, according to a study by the School of Social Work. Published in the journal Scientific Reports, research from Patrick Bordnick, dean of the school, and Tonya Hansel, a disaster mental health expert who oversees the school’s doctorate program, says that despite vaccinations and lifted restrictions, mental health issues continue to be a crucial concern as the pandemic enters a recovery phase. The researchers found increased…

“What emerged in the research is that people have been debating whether the sport is too rough as far back as the game goes. The science is new, but the debate is not.” JENNY MERCEIN, Tulane assistant professor of theatre. Mercein is co-creator, along with playwright KJ Sanchez, of X’s and O’s, a play that examines the lasting physical and neurological impacts from playing football. They presented a reading and panel discussion of X’s and O’s at the Jill H. and Avram A. Glazer Family Club at Yulman Stadium in February. Mercein was raised in a football family. Her father, Chuck Mercein,…

Drinking a little wine with dinner may help lower risks of developing type 2 diabetes, according to researchers at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Preliminary results of a study by Dr. Hao Ma, a research fellow at the Tulane Obesity Research Center and the Tulane Personalized Health Institute, and others were presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2022 in Chicago.

Thanks to a symbiotic fungus, many species of morning glories contain elements of powerful psychedelic drugs, according to a Tulane study published in the journal Communications Biology. The seeds of the common tropical vine, whose namesake trumpet-like blooms only open in the morning, contain compounds that could be useful for treating mental and physical diseases as well as promoting well-being, said plant and fungal biologist Keith Clay, chairman of the Tulane Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Live broadcasts, interviews and radio segments, which originally aired between 1949 and 1958, by Vernon “Dr. Daddy-O” Winslow for “Jivin’ with Jax” on WWEZ-AM New Orleans are now available online via the Tulane University Digital Library. These recordings represent the emergence of Black radio in New Orleans, while featuring Winslow’s work as the first African American radio disc jockey on New Orleans airwaves. They are included in the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, a division of Tulane University Special Collections. The digitization project was funded in part by a…

The School of Architecture’s URBANbuild has partnered with Bethlehem Lutheran Church on a four-year project to build four Americans with Disabilities Act–accessible housing units in Central City. URBANbuild, a design/build program in which teams of students design and construct prototypical, affordable houses around New Orleans, is directed by Byron Mouton, Lacey Senior Professor of Practice. Mouton met Bethlehem’s pastor, Ben Groth, who is also a PhD student in Tulane’s history department, during URBANbuild’s 2021 project, which happened to be next to Bethlehem’s parking lot.

The inaugural in-person New Orleans Book Festival drew 135 authors and 6,000 attendees, who flocked to the Tulane uptown campus for three days in March, expressing their love of books and the people who write them.

A national research university such as Tulane brings individuals from the widest range of backgrounds, geographies and viewpoints together for an intensive, yearslong living and learning experience.