Maiken Nedergaard<\/a>\u2014a pioneering neuroscientist and co-director of the 糖心传媒<\/a> Center for Translational Neuromedicine<\/a>\u2014has been elected a 2025 international fellow of the National Academy of Inventors<\/a> (NAI). The honor recognizes academic innovators whose work has led to patented technologies, translational breakthroughs, and broad societal impact. It is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.<\/p>\n Nedergaard\u2019s selection reflects more than a decade of groundbreaking research that has fundamentally reshaped basic neuroscience, reframed public discussions about sleep and brain health, and opened avenues for entirely new classes of therapies for neurological disorders.<\/p>\n In 2012, Nedergaard and colleagues first described the glymphatic system, a network of fluid channels that clears metabolic waste from the brain, primarily during deep sleep. This discovery resolved long-standing questions in neuroscience and catalyzed a new field focused on how sleep, vascular health, and cellular activity interact to protect the brain.<\/p>\n More recently, the group identified the role of lymphatic vessels<\/a> located in the membranes surrounding the brain, which carry waste from the brain to the body\u2019s broader lymphatic system. Together, these interconnected pathways form a plumbing system in the brain now implicated in conditions ranging from Alzheimer\u2019s and Huntington\u2019s disease to traumatic brain injury and migraines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The honor recognizes Nedergaard\u2019s groundbreaking research over the past decade, which has fundamentally reshaped basic neuroscience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":688992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[486,37112,8366,42492],"class_list":["post-688082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-awards","tag-faculty","tag-maiken-nedergaard","tag-medical-center"],"acf":{"external":"","hide_featured_image":false,"related":"show_related","style":[369392,561722,679652],"content_modules":[{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"","title":"Revealing the brain\u2019s hidden <\/strong>\u2018<\/b>plumbing system\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What does sleep do besides just give us rest?<\/h3>","content":"It allows our brain to clear toxic waste that if left alone could lead to neurological disorders. With her discovery of the glymphatic system, URochester neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of brain physiology and the biological purpose of sleep.","cta":"","bg":"#00205b","type":"embed","image":688682,"embed":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/x_go148NwkY","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text","anchor":"","css_class":"pt-15","title":"
How glymphatic science is evolving<\/strong><\/h3>","content":"Since the initial discovery, research at the University of Rochester, the University of Copenhagen (where Nedergaard operates a second lab), and around the world has expanded rapidly, revealing that glymphatic function is affected by:\r\n
\r\n \t
New therapeutic pathways on the horizon<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAs scientists learn more about how the glymphatic system functions, they are beginning to see opportunities to harness it for new therapies<\/a>. Early studies in animals suggest that several factors influence the brain's ability to effectively flush out waste, including the health of lymphatic vessels surrounding the brain, the function of key water channels in astrocytes, and the stability of normal sleep rhythms. By improving these processes, researchers have been able to enhance the brain\u2019s ability to clear toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer\u2019s, Huntington\u2019s disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.\r\n\r\nSome teams are exploring ways to strengthen the brain\u2019s lymphatic pathways to help move waste more efficiently, while others are looking at how to boost the activity of Aquaporin-4 to improve fluid flow through brain tissue. Restoring normal patterns of sleep after a brain injury, which is when glymphatic function is naturally strongest, has also shown promise in reactivating the system. Even noninvasive physical techniques that gently stimulate fluid movement in the head and neck have produced encouraging results in mouse models.\r\n\r\nIn addition, researchers are investigating medications that could support healthier brain fluid movement, including repurposed drugs that appear to improve circulation or stabilize key components of the glymphatic network. Although these approaches are still in early stages, they point toward a future in which enhancing the brain\u2019s natural cleanup system may offer a novel pathway for preventing or slowing neurological disease.","background_color":"#ffffff","width":"width-medium"},{"acf_fc_layout":"media_text_new","anchor":"","class":"","overline":"In good company","title":"
URochester\u2019s 11 NAI fellows<\/h3>","content":"Maiken Nedergaard joins the other National Academy of Inventors fellows at the University of Rochester:\r\n\r\nEby Friedman and Steve Goldman<\/a>, 2024\r\n\r\nJiebo Luo and Benjamin Miller<\/a>, 2022\r\n\r\nDuncan Moore and David Williams<\/a>, 2021\r\n\r\nJannick Rolland<\/a>, 2020\r\n\r\nJames Zavislan<\/a>, 2018\r\n\r\nWayne Knox<\/a>, 2017\r\n\r\nKevin Parker<\/a>, 2016","cta":"","bg":"#ffc70a","type":"image","image":652992,"embed":"","video":"","layout":"left","animation":"animation-false"}]},"yoast_head":"\n