New Technology Brings Hope
The Living Brain
When Robert Knight began his career as a neurologist in the 1970s, he had to diagnose patients by observing their behavior and making an educated guess about what was wrong. Since that time, a technological revolution has occurred. Doctors and scientists now have powerful electric sensors, imaging tools, and scanners that let them watch the living human brain in action.
As a result, Knight and his team of researchers at Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute are poised to make exciting discoveries about how the brain controls behavior and gain a better understanding of the biological roots of neurological disorders.
Knight’s own research focuses on the frontal lobes of the brain, which contribute to memory, decision making, social behavior, and emotion. Advances mean fresh hope for the nearly one million Americans who damage their frontal lobes through head injuries or strokes each year.
Knight works with patients from several Bay Area veterans’ hospitals. He’s also excited about forming a partnership with Children’s Hospital of Oakland to help children with sickle cell anemia—a disease that’s associated with a high incidence of stroke.
“One thing we now know is that the brain is more plastic than we thought. When it’s damaged, the damage isn’t always irreversible,” he says. “That’s what makes this such an exciting field. We’re only at the beginning of this discovery.”
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Robert Knight, MD is the Evan Rauch Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology. He is also the director of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute.