Neuron News and Research

RSS

UC San Diego scientists unravel how ‘resting-state connectivity’ occurs in the brain

Scientists have known that areas of the brain with similar functions--even those in different brain hemispheres--connect to share signals when the body rests, but they haven't known how this "resting-state connectivity" occurs.

26 Oct 2017

New study sheds light on normal function of Parkinson's gene

A new study published in the journal Neuron sheds light on the normal function of LRRK2, the most common genetic cause for late-onset Parkinson's disease. The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health.

26 Oct 2017

UCLA researchers precisely stimulate the brain to enhance recollection of distinct memories

Neuroscientists at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have discovered precisely where and how to electrically stimulate the human brain to enhance people's recollection of distinct memories. People with epilepsy who received low-current electrical pulses showed a significant improvement in their ability to recognize specific faces and ignore similar ones.

25 Oct 2017

NIH launches major effort to discover, catalog the brain's ‘parts list’

The National Institutes of Health has launched a major effort to discover and catalog the brain's "parts list." The NIH's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative Cell Census Network aims to provide researchers with a comprehensive reference of the diverse cell types in human, monkey, and mouse brain.

24 Oct 2017

Research findings reveal which brain region stimulates divergent behavior

Have you ever been stuck in a rut, going through the same motions day in and day out? How do you motivate to change your behavior?

24 Oct 2017

Penn researchers functionally dissect gene variant linked to FTLD

Seven years ago, Penn Medicine researchers showed that mutations in the TMEM106B gene significantly increased a person's risk of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), the second most common cause of dementia in those under 65.

19 Oct 2017

Researchers use powerful X-ray beams for ‘navigational map view’ of mouse brain

If brain imaging could be compared to Google Earth, neuroscientists would already have a pretty good "satellite view" of the brain, and a great "street view" of neuron details.

17 Oct 2017

Columbia scientists receive grant from CZI to construct atlas of cells in human spinal cord

Scientists at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute today received a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative donor advised fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, to construct an atlas of gene activity of all cells in the human spinal cord.

17 Oct 2017

Report: Global burden of neurological disorders in today’s world

Globally, the burden of neurological disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy etc) has increased substantially over the past 25 years.

13 Oct 2017

Specific regions of silenced DNA help define cell's identity, study suggests

The fundamental mechanisms governing how cells form an identity such as becoming a muscle cell or a nerve cell are not fully understood. Multiple diseases, including cancer, have been linked to cells going down the wrong developmental path during maturation.

13 Oct 2017

Researchers find how tDCS could increase performance of associative learning

HRL Laboratories, LLC, researchers have determined how non-invasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could increase performance of associative learning.

13 Oct 2017

Scientists identify brain-wave patterns of explicit and implicit learning

Figuring out how to pedal a bike and memorizing the rules of chess require two different types of learning, and now for the first time, researchers have been able to distinguish each type of learning by the brain-wave patterns it produces.

12 Oct 2017

Researchers find potential approach to prevent peripheral neuropathy

In discovering how certain chemotherapy drugs cause the nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found a potential approach to preventing this common and troublesome side effect of cancer treatment.

11 Oct 2017

Scientists find new way to produce brain cells from single iPSC

Li Gan, PhD, wants to find treatments to help patients with Alzheimer's disease. Like most researchers, she's hit a few major roadblocks.

10 Oct 2017

Astrocytes play important part in regulation of breathing, study shows

Star-shaped cells called astrocytes are much more than simple support cells in the brain. In a new study on mice, researchers at Karolinska Institutet demonstrate that they also play a key part in the respiratory center of the brainstem and release inflammatory molecules that regulate breathing.

5 Oct 2017

New non-invasive biomarker detects Alzheimer's disease before occurrence of first symptoms

Absence of a prefrontal activation during sensory gating of simple tones detects the Alzheimer's disease (AD) before the occurrence of the first symptoms. Sanja Josef Golubic Ph.D., physicists at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, reveals the high potential, absolutely non-invasive biomarker of AD pathology in a new study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping. Josef Golubic found a discrete, individual biomarker of AD with "ideal" properties.

3 Oct 2017

Researchers win $2 million grant to refine and expand use of unique microscope

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the University of Colorado Boulder have won a $2 million grant allowing them to refine a unique microscope they have developed while expanding its use to other scientists across the country.

3 Oct 2017

NsXeR protein: A new optogenetic tool to control muscle and neuronal cells

Scientists have examined a protein that will find application in optogenetics and could be used to control muscle and neuronal cells. The paper on the light-sensitive NsXeR protein of the xenorhodopsin class was published in Science Advances by the international team of researchers from MIPT, Research center Jülich, and Institut de Biologie Structurale.

30 Sep 2017

Reducing antioxidant levels in the colon may have positive effect on GI inflammation

A new study finds that lowering the levels of an antioxidant in the colon has an unexpectedly positive effect on gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation. The paper is published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.

28 Sep 2017

NTU Singapore, KAIST scientists discover new mechanism that causes Parkinsonian symptoms

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology have identified a new mechanism that causes the hallmark symptoms of Parkinson's disease, namely tremors, rigidity, and loss of voluntary movement.

28 Sep 2017