Lissencephaly News and Research

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Lissencephaly, which literally means ''smooth brain'', is a rare brain formation disorder caused by defective neuronal migration during the 12th to 24th weeks of gestation, resulting in a lack of development of brain folds (gyri) and grooves (sulci).

Study reveals how cells from patients with developmental disease differ from healthy cells

By reprogramming skin cells into nerve cells, researchers at Karolinska Institutet are creating cell models of the human brain. In a new study published in Molecular Psychiatry the researchers describe how cells from patients with the severe developmental disease lissencephaly differ from healthy cells.

19 Sep 2017

Dmrta2 gene mutation can lead to abnormal brain development in unborn babies

Researchers from Cardiff University and Université Libre de Bruxelles have identified how the function of a key gene significantly impacts nerve stem cell growth, and how it can lead to abnormal brain development in unborn babies if the system goes awry.

6 Jul 2017

New method combines organoid technology with bioengineering to build better brains

A few years ago, Jürgen Knoblich and his team at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) have pioneered brain organoid technology. They developed a method for cultivating three-dimensional brain-like structures, so called cerebral organoids, in a dish.

1 Jun 2017

Scientists use brain organoids to identify root causes of Miller-Dieker syndrome

Research led by scientists at UC San Francisco and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has used brain "organoids" — tiny 3D models of human organs that scientists grow in a dish to study disease — to identify root causes of Miller-Dieker Syndrome (MDS), a rare genetic disorder that causes fatal brain malformations.

7 Feb 2017

New report documents fetal brain abnormalities linked to congenital Zika infection

In a special report released August 23 in the journal Radiology, a team of researchers including Deborah Levine, MD, Director of Obstetric & Gynecologic ultrasound at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, documented the brain abnormalities associated with congenital Zika in 45 confirmed and presumed cases from northeastern Brazil.

26 Aug 2016

New findings on microcephaly may offer clues to explore how Zika virus disrupts brain development

Long before Zika virus made it a household word, the birth defect called microcephaly puzzled scientists and doctors -- even as it changed the lives of the babies born with it during the pre-Zika era.

8 Aug 2016

RIKEN researchers discover how to reverse abnormal axonal development

Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have discovered how to reverse the abnormal axonal development characteristic of CFEOM3, a congenital disease that affects the muscles that control eye movements.

19 Jan 2016

Determining the dynein-dynactin complex structure: an interview with Dr Gabriel C. Lander

This is a macromolecular assembly is made up of two components, dynein and dynactin, that works to move molecular cargo (organelles, RNA, vesicles, proteins, viruses) along microtubule highways within our cells.

16 Aug 2015

Nerve cells guide each other during embryonic development

When nerve cells form in an embryo they do not start off in the right place but have to be guided to their final position by navigating a kind of molecular and cellular "map" in order to function properly. In a recent research study published in Nature Communications neurobiologist Sara Wilson, Umeå University, found that during embryonic development different parts of the nerve cell are important for guiding other nerve cells into their physical positions.

20 May 2015

UCSF researchers identify novel molecular features within the developing human brain

UC San Francisco researchers have identified cells' unique features within the developing human brain, using the latest technologies for analyzing gene activity in individual cells, and have demonstrated that large-scale cell surveys can be done much more efficiently and cheaply than was previously thought possible.

7 Aug 2014

Researchers discover new gene mutations associated with megalencephaly

A research team led by Seattle Children's Research Institute has discovered new gene mutations associated with markedly enlarged brain size, or megalencephaly.

30 Jun 2012

Scientists identify how cell architecture changes during formation of gametes

Scientists using high-powered microscopes have made a stunning observation of the architecture within a cell - and identified for the first time how the architecture changes during the formation of gametes, also known as sex cells, in order to successfully complete the process.

2 May 2012

ACTB and ACTG1 actin genes cause Baraitser-Winter syndrome

Scientists from Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, in collaboration with the Genomic Disorders Group Nijmegen in the Netherlands, have identified two new genes that cause Baraitser-Winter syndrome, a rare brain malformation that is characterized by droopy eyelids and intellectual disabilities.

1 Mar 2012

Study unveils surprising mechanism that controls brain formation

A study from The Scripps Research Institute has unveiled a surprising mechanism that controls brain formation. The findings have implications for understanding a host of diseases, including some forms of mental retardation, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism.

10 Feb 2011

UCSF scientists discover new stem cell in developing human brain

UCSF scientists have discovered a new stem cell in the developing human brain. The cell produces nerve cells that help form the neocortex - the site of higher cognitive function -- and likely accounts for the dramatic expansion of the region in the lineages that lead to man, the researchers say.

26 May 2010

Migrant neuron: New imaging studies reveal mechanics of neuron migration

The development of the brain proceeds a little like the European settlement of North America. The earliest pioneers settled on the east coast with subsequent waves of settlers forming communities further and further westward. In cortical regions of the developing brain, generations of young neurons undergo a staged migration as well, with the earliest-born cells staying relatively close to their birthplace and subsequent generations traveling further, ultimately stratifying into six neuronal layers in the mature brain. Now, for the first time, imaging studies have identified the "motors" that propel a unique form of cell migration that creates these layers that

22 Jul 2009