September, 2026
Dr. Miles Berger Awarded NIH K24 Award
Congratulations to Dr. Miles Berger on receiving a K24 Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research from the NIH! This award will launch two new research projects investigating the mechanisms of postoperative delirium — the most common complication among the 19+ million older Americans who undergo surgery each year, and a condition associated with long-term cognitive decline and increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias.
Using machine learning and AI-based analysis of CSF biomarkers and structural/functional MRI data from roughly 800 older surgical patients studied over the past decade, Dr. Berger’s team will investigate whether postoperative delirium reflects the unmasking of pre-existing brain vulnerabilities, new injury caused by surgery, or both. The award will also support Dr. Berger’s training in AI and neuroimaging analysis methods, and will strengthen his mentorship of PhD students, postdocs, residents, and junior faculty.
September, 2026
Charlotte Herber wins SNACC Best of Science Award
Congratulations to Charlotte Herber, who presented at the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology & Critical Care (SNACC) Annual Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. Charlotte presented her work, “Perioperative Effects of CN-105 Treatment on the Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteome,” during the meeting’s Best of Meeting session. Her abstract was recognized with the Best of Science – Clinical/Translational Award, highlighting the significance of this work in perioperative neuroscience.
September, 2026
Dr. Jian Yu Joins the Berger Lab
We are excited to welcome Dr. Jian Yu, our new postdoctoral scholar. Dr. Yu has a background in anesthesiology and psychiatry and studies delirium, postoperative cognitive impairment, and neurodegenerative disease using clinical cohorts and population-based data. He plans to expand this work using the UK Biobank to investigate genetic, proteomic, and metabolomic risk factors for delirium.
August, 2026
Dr. Yotam Weiss Joins the Berger Lab
We are excited to welcome Dr. Yotam Weiss, attending anesthesiologist, to the Berger Lab beginning in August 2026. We look forward to his contributions to the lab’s work in neuroanesthesia and perioperative brain health.
July, 2026
Dr. Miles Berger Featured in The Washington Post
Dr. Miles Berger was recently featured in The Washington Post discussing the importance of patient–anesthesiologist communication before surgery. Alongside Dr. Daniel Sessler, he shared expert insights on factors that can influence anesthetic care and postoperative pain management, emphasizing the role of personalized anesthesia in improving patient outcomes.
Read the article: 4 things that can make you need more pain meds during surgery and after.
May, 2026
2026 Kosaka Top Scholars Abstract Award Winner: Connie T. Yu, BS
Congratulations to Connie Yu (MS1) and Charlotte Herber, PhD/MS3, for winning the Best Trainee Abstract Presentation Award at the 2026 IARS Annual Meeting in Montreal on May 3, 2026. We are proud of their outstanding achievement and representation of the lab.
April, 2026
Research on CN-105 Published in JAMA Network Open
Research led by Dr. Miles Berger and collaborators at Duke University School of Medicine found that the experimental peptide CN-105 was safe in older surgical patients and showed an approximately 25% relative reduction in postoperative delirium in a Phase 2 clinical trial published in JAMA Network Open. This work represents an important step toward a potential treatment for postoperative delirium.
Publication: Timko NJ, et al. Apolipoprotein E Mimetic Peptide CN-105 and Postoperative Delirium in Older Patients: The Phase 2 MARBLE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open. 2026.
July, 2025
Ashley Phoenix, MD, MS Joins the Berger Lab through T32 training grant
Congratulations to Dr. Phoenix for getting a position on the T32 training grant. She will be joining our lab as a postdoctoral research fellow and building her foundation for her career as a physician-scientist. Her work focuses on perioperative brain health, cognitive decline, and anesthesiology research.