Research in Neurosurgery
The Department of Neurosurgery’s commitment to advancing research that makes a difference in the lives of patients and families with neurological disorders is integral to achieve the central mission of excellence in clinical neurosurgery.
The department aims to catalyze the broad basic research and engineering expertise across the many schools of The University of Texas at Austin to address the many translational and clinical challenges of treating patients with disorders of the brain and spine, and to pursue care models that achieve high-quality, value-based, excellent outcomes.
Research Areas
Department faculty members created and are leading the following research interest groups that serve as interdisciplinary translational research hubs to catalyze campus-wide research collaborations and serve as forums to address challenges in neurological diseases.
Monthly meetings are held in the following topic areas:
- Brain Tumors
- Cerebrovascular Diseases
- Co-leaders: Ramsey Ashour, M.D., and Andrew Dunn, Ph.D. (UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering)
- Restoring Neurological Function
The multiple highly collaborative research groups led by John S. Kuo, M.D., Ph.D.; Benjamin Umlauf, Ph.D.; and Winson Ho, M.D., are advancing research into basic molecular biology of brain tumors and developing new therapeutic strategies for treating incurable brain tumors for adults and children. They are highly engaged in training the next generation of researchers and working with colleagues in the Livestrong Cancer Institutes, College of Natural Sciences, Institute for Neurosciences and Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology to tackle the challenges of developing more effective treatments for brain tumor patients.
Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, M.D., Ph.D., is leading multi-institutional and cross-campus research efforts in advancing human brain-machine interface technology to restore neurological function. Major collaborators at the Cockrell School of Engineering and Moody College of Communications include José del R. Millán, Ph.D., and Liberty Hamilton, Ph.D.
Vincent Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Neurosurgery and David Schnyer, Ph.D., of the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts are investigators in the major Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury (TRACK-TBI) Research Consortium that is making fundamental advances in brain and spinal trauma.