Neurodegenerative Diseases News and Research

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Dartmouth investigators show how vestibular system's horizontal canals influence navigation

Dartmouth researchers have found the first direct evidence showing how the vestibular system's horizontal canals play a key role in sensing our direction in the environment.

20 Jan 2016

Common mortality causes prevail in epilepsy patients

A prospective, community-based study confirms that patients with epilepsy usually die of the same causes as other people.

19 Jan 2016

New UTMB study reveals link between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's disease

A new study from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston fills an important gap in understanding the link between traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

13 Jan 2016

Three new genetic associations identified for primary open angle glaucoma

Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have led an international effort to identify three genetic associations that influence susceptibility to primary open angle glaucoma -- the most common form of adult onset glaucoma and the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.

12 Jan 2016

Promising novel approach to treat gynecologic tumors

UCLA scientists have developed a promising novel method to treat gynecologic tumors. The approach focuses on a protein called p53, which is commonly mutated in women who have high-grade serous ovarian cancer, the deadliest form of reproductive cancer. In many women with the disease, the cancer is very advanced by the time it is diagnosed and is therefore difficult to treat.

7 Jan 2016

Alpha-synuclein protein involved in Parkinson's disease pathology does not behave like a 'prion'

In Parkinson's disease, the protein "alpha-synuclein" aggregates within neurons of patients and appears to propagate across interconnected areas of the brain. How this happens remains largely unknown.

6 Jan 2016

International panel of clinical experts comment on state of their fields

In an Editorial published this week in PLOS Medicine, editors ask an international panel of eleven expert researchers and clinicians spanning a range of specialties to answer questions on their field and what developments they hope and expect to see in 2016.

30 Dec 2015

Scientists pin down structure of neuronal protein clumps associated with ALS

To create treatments for a disease without any, scientists need to study and understand the driving forces behind the faulty biology. Today, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine announced the first-ever evidence-based description of the neuronal protein clumps thought to be important in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative condition.

29 Dec 2015

Scientists unravel longstanding mystery of fundamental property of the brain

In new research published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a team of scientists from the Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, in the Faculty of Medicine, unraveled a longstanding mystery of a fundamental property of the brain.

24 Dec 2015

Drug that boosts activity in the brain's 'garbage disposal' system may slow Alzheimer's disease

A drug that boosts activity in the brain's "garbage disposal" system can decrease levels of toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders and improve cognition in mice, a new study by neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center has found.

22 Dec 2015

Benjamin Wolozin receives $500,000 award in Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery Research

Research that leads to improved therapies for Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is one goal of Boston University School of Medicine professor of pharmacology and neurology Benjamin Wolozin, MD, PhD. He was one of six researchers awarded a two-year, $500,000 award in Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery Research by the Edward N. & Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation.

22 Dec 2015

Aquinnah secures $5 million private equity investment from Takeda

Aquinnah Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has received a $5 Million investment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Limited, in it's first private equity financing. The company has assembled a world-class team of drug developers and an exceptional Scientific Advisory Board in the fields of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), protein and RNA regulation, and neurodegenerative diseases.

21 Dec 2015

Heidelberg neurobiologists identify Dnmt3a2 protein that boosts memory performance

Increasing the level of a certain DNA-modified enzyme in the brain significantly improves cognitive ability. The discovery was made by the research team led by Prof. Dr. Hilmar Bading at the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences of Heidelberg University. Mouse experiments showed that the Dnmt3a2 protein can boost memory performance in the animals.

21 Dec 2015

New study sheds light on the molecular basis of memory and learning

The brain still harbours many unknowns. Basically, it is assumed that it stores experiences by altering the connections between brain cells. This ability to adapt - which is also called "plasticity" - provides the basis for memory and learning, which is the ability to draw conclusions from memories. On a molecular scale these changes are mediated by modifications of expression of specific genes that as required strengthen or weaken the connections between the brain cells.

18 Dec 2015

UCA researchers identify compounds that favour generation of new neuronal cells

Many neurology pathologies cause irreversible loss of neurons. They are mostly the so-called neurodegenerative diseases although there exist other causes for a focal loss of neurons, as it is the case in strokes or traumatic brain injuries. All these pathologies lack nowadays of an efficient treatment not being possible to regenerate dead neurons. In fact, although the brain has the ability to regenerate as many studies has proved, this regeneration is very low, ranging from 0.2% to a maximum of 10% depending on the type of injury and the damaged area.

17 Dec 2015

Light-driven protein has potential to become key tool for optogenetics

Biophysicists have developed a hypothesis to explain the function of a light-driven protein which pumps sodium ions across a cell membrane, and they have revealed the key structural feature of these pumps. The scientists see these sodium pumps as being highly promising tools in using light signals to control nerve cells – which is exactly what is involved in the new scientific field of optogenetics.

15 Dec 2015

Rutgers scientists uncover biological pathways that provide insight into tiny cell bubbles

Rutgers scientists have uncovered biological pathways in the roundworm that provide insight into how tiny bubbles released by cells can have beneficial health effects, like promoting tissue repair, or may play a diabolical role and carry disease signals for cancer or neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

12 Dec 2015

New CRC aims to better understand autophagy at molecular and cellular level

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/DFG) has approved 11 M € for the next four years for establishing a CRC on selective autophagy under the lead of Goethe University. Autophagy literally means "self-eating" and refers to a sophisticated system in which cellular waste is specifically detected and removed.

12 Dec 2015

Apigenin improves neuron formation, strengthens connections between brain cells

Brazilian researchers from D'Or Institute for Research and Education, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Federal University of Bahia have demonstrated in laboratory that apigenin, a substance found in parsley, thyme, chamomile and red pepper, improves neuron formation and strengthens the connections between brain cells.

11 Dec 2015

DZNE molecular biologist to receive Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for research on neurons

The molecular biologist Frank Bradke (46), group leader at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and professor for neurobiology at the University of Bonn, will be awarded the "Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize", which is endowed with 2.5 million euros.