{"id":2380,"date":"2020-04-20T16:20:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T20:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/?p=2380"},"modified":"2026-05-01T12:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:58:17","slug":"brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Brain Discovery Suggests Source of Lifelong Behavioral Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-2391 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-70x70.jpg 70w, https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB.jpg 507w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>&#8220;When the damage isn\u2019t recognized, the cells that have DNA damage live on in the CNS [central nervous system] and can be seen by accumulation of DNA damage in the brain,\u201d said researcher Catherine R. Lammert.<\/p>\n<p>Improper removal of faulty brain cells during neurodevelopment may cause lifelong behavioral issues, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine suggests. The finding also could have important implications for a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>UVA neuroscientists have discovered that an unexpected form of cellular cleanup takes place in developing brains. If this process goes wrong \u2013 happening too little or too much \u2013 it can cause permanent changes in the brain\u2019s wiring. In lab mice, this results in anxiety-like behavior, and it may play a role in neurological conditions such as autism in humans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t want [brain] cells to have genomic compromises. You don\u2019t want damaged DNA. So this would be a normal mechanism to expel those cells from being incorporated into the central nervous system,\u201d explained researcher Catherine R. Lammert. \u201cWhen the damage isn\u2019t recognized, the cells that have DNA damage live on in the CNS [central nervous system] and can be seen by accumulation of DNA damage in the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article in <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.uvahealth.com\/2020\/04\/08\/brain-discovery-lifelong-behavioral-issues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UVA Newsroom, 4\/8\/20<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-020-2174-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nature article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;When the damage isn\u2019t recognized, the cells that have DNA damage live on in the CNS [central nervous system] and can be seen by accumulation of DNA damage in the brain,\u201d said researcher Catherine R. Lammert. Improper removal of faulty brain cells during neurodevelopment may cause lifelong behavioral issues, new research from the University of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-2380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-highlights","tag-delete"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Brain Discovery Suggests Source of Lifelong Behavioral Issues - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brain Discovery Suggests Source of Lifelong Behavioral Issues - Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;When the damage isn\u2019t recognized, the cells that have DNA damage live on in the CNS [central nervous system] and can be seen by accumulation of DNA damage in the brain,\u201d said researcher Catherine R. Lammert. Improper removal of faulty brain cells during neurodevelopment may cause lifelong behavioral issues, new research from the University of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-20T20:20:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T16:58:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/bims\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/390\/2020\/04\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-250x250-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"School of Medicine Webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"School of Medicine Webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"School of Medicine Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e677950e11557f4c0506a2b00603569\"},\"headline\":\"Brain Discovery Suggests Source of Lifelong Behavioral Issues\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-20T20:20:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T16:58:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":232,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/390\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Cat-Lammert-02-WEB-250x250-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Delete\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research Highlights\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/bims\\\/brain-discovery-suggests-source-of-lifelong-behavioral-issues\\\/\",\"name\":\"Brain Discovery Suggests Source of Lifelong Behavioral Issues - 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