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Alcohol changes the molecular basis of memory formation

A new study has shown how alcohol consumption fuels addiction by hijacking a conserved memory pathway in the brain and changing memory formation.

25 Oct 2018

Loss of serotonin neuron activity blunts the body’s ability to recover from interrupted breathing

Scientists trying to identify the roots of sudden infant death syndrome, the leading cause of death in U.S. infants between 1 month and 1 year old, have increasingly turned their attention to the neurotransmitter serotonin and the brain cells that produce it.

25 Oct 2018

Modeling Alzheimer’s Disease Using Microfluidics

An interview with Dr. Joseph Park, the incorporation of astrocytes into the Alzheimer’s-in-a-dish culture system and it's applications in drug development.

24 Oct 2018

Neurons in the brain's primary visual cortex can reliably detect straight lines

Single neurons in the brain's primary visual cortex can reliably detect straight lines, even though the cellular makeup of the neurons is constantly changing, according to a new study by Carnegie Mellon University neuroscientists, led by Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Sandra Kuhlman.

24 Oct 2018

Dyslexia gene linked to concussion susceptibility in athletes

A gene associated with dyslexia, a learning disorder, may make some athletes less susceptible to concussions, reports a new study from Penn State University and Northwestern Medicine.

24 Oct 2018

Nerve-on-a-chip platform could help improve neuroprosthetic designs

Neuroprosthetics - implants containing multi-contact electrodes that can substitute certain nerve functionalities - have the potential to work wonders.

23 Oct 2018

Human neurons employ highly compartmentalized signaling, study shows

Human neurons are much larger than those of model organisms mice and rats, so it's been unclear whether it's size that makes a difference in our brain's computational power.

19 Oct 2018

Study to explore bioethics of brain organoids

Research scientists around the world are now able to investigate the structural, cellular, and developmental intricacies of the human brain using bioengineered stem cell-based models called organoids.

16 Oct 2018

Study uses novel approach to investigate genetic origins of mental illnesses

A study in Biological Psychiatry has established a new analytical method for investigating the complex genetic origins of mental illnesses using brain cells that are grown in a dish from human embryonic stem cells.

16 Oct 2018

Study: Neurons regulating reproductive hormone release have different activity in epileptic mice

Mice with epilepsy have altered patterns of neuron activity in the portion of the brain that controls the reproductive endocrine system, University of Illinois researchers report in a new study. Furthermore, the differences in neuron activity in female mice fluctuate across the reproductive cycle, the team found.

15 Oct 2018

Scientists reprogram mature inhibitory neurons into dopaminergic cells

Attempting to make dopamine-producing neurons out of glial cells in mouse brains, a group of researchers instead converted mature inhibitory neurons into dopaminergic cells.

12 Oct 2018

Neuroscientists unravel how two different types of brain plasticity work on synapses

The brain's crucial function is to allow organisms to learn and adapt to their surroundings. It does this by literally changing the connections, or synapses, between neurons, strengthening meaningful patterns of neural activity in order to store information. The existence of this process - brain plasticity - has been known for some time.

12 Oct 2018

Study: Brain's neurons are more changeable in adulthood than previously thought

UT Southwestern researchers attempting to transform supporting brain cells into neurons instead reprogrammed mature inhibitory neurons into a different type of neuron that creates the neurotransmitter lost in Parkinson's disease.

12 Oct 2018

Scientists work to speed regeneration and recovery of your sense of taste

When it's a significant injury, not just a hot pizza, that damages your tongue and taste buds, you appear to need a cell type best known for its inflammation-promoting skills to help restore your sense of taste.

12 Oct 2018

New transgenic mouse model sheds light on biological causes of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that presents clinically with abnormal movement and tremors at rest.

12 Oct 2018

Exposure to magnetite particles is unlikely to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease

A 2016 study showed that exposure to urban pollution involving magnetite particles played a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

12 Oct 2018

FutureNeuro and Ergo partner to enhance eHealth infrastructure for providing better epilepsy care

FutureNeuro, the SFI Research Centre for chronic and rare neurological conditions based at RCSI, has announced its partnership with Irish Cloud solution provider Ergo to enhance crucial eHealth infrastructure in Ireland and provide improved monitoring for people living with epilepsy.

11 Oct 2018

Virginia Tech researcher receives $1.7 million to study herpes simplex virus

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health has awarded Andrea Bertke, an assistant professor of infectious diseases in the Department of Population Health Sciences in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, $1.7 million to study the neuron-specific regulation of herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2.

11 Oct 2018

Using nanotechnology to fight dementia

In the human brain, nerve cells - so-called neurons - care for the transmission of electrical signals. They form the functional component responsible for sensations, stimuli and memories. In the presence of dementia, there is an adsorption of proteins outside the neurons, which then leads to the death of the neuronal cells. How to prevent the death of neurons is still the subject of scientific research today.

10 Oct 2018

Seizures start with a hush: A spike in inhibition

Some patients describe epileptic seizures like an earthquake from within, starting slow and growing without their control. To a brain researcher, seizures are an electrical firestorm of neuronal activation in the brain.

10 Oct 2018