Researchers from UCLA and USC are researching the link between gut microbes and autism to better understand autism and its potential causes. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine, physiology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, and Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, an associate professor of psychology at University of Southern California, received a three-year $808,000 grant from the United States Department of Defense to analyze gut microbiome abnormalities in patients with autism. Read more...

Photo: Emeran Mayer, a professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, and Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, an associate professor of psychology at USC, received an $808,000 grant from the United States Department of Defense to analyze gut microbiome abnormalities in patients with autism. (Daily Bruin file photo)

UCLA researchers are developing the first multiple sclerosis treatment that could target the cause of the disease, instead of simply treating its symptoms. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the fatty coating of nerve cells, called the myelin sheath, is broken down by one’s immune system. Read more...

Photo: UCLA researchers are developing the first multiple sclerosis treatment that would target the disease’s cause rather than only treating its symptoms. The study found that its symptoms could be alleviated with estriol treatments. Rhonda Voskuhl, the director of the UCLA Multiple Sclerosis Program and Clinic, led the study. (Courtesy of UCLA Health)