Medical College of Wisconsin Receives Award to Study Anesthesia's Affect on the Brain

     The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a four-year, $1,293,730 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to investigate how anesthesia puts the brain in an unconscious state.  The research may help unravel the mystery of consciousness, and lead to the development of novel methods for monitoring states of consciousness.

     Anthony G. Hudetz, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology, physiology and biophysics at the Medical College, is principal investigator of the grant.

     It is thought that loss of consciousness from anesthesia is caused by a disruption in communication in parts of the brain that are involved with sharing sensory information.