Brain News and Research

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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

MGH study reveals effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the brain tissue of glioblastoma patients

A study from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center researchers - the first to examine the effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the healthy brain tissue of glioblastoma patients - reveals not only specific structural changes within patients' brains but also that the effect of cancer therapy on the normal brain appears to be progressive and continues even after radiation therapy has ceased.

18 Aug 2015

New research identifies cause of disruption in brain's communication channels linked to psychiatric disorders

New research has identified the mechanisms that trigger disruption in the brain's communication channels linked to symptoms in psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia. The University of Bristol study, published today [17 Aug] in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, could have important implications for treating symptoms of brain disorders.

18 Aug 2015

Regulation of tumor microenvironment may offer alternate method for cancer treatment

Scientists know that activation of growth factor receptors like epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) promote tumor progression in many types of cancer.

18 Aug 2015

Tracking retinal changes may help doctors to adjust schizophrenia treatment in the future

Schizophrenia is associated with structural and functional alterations of the visual system, including specific structural changes in the eye. Tracking such changes may provide new measures of risk for, and progression of the disease, according to a literature review published online in the journal Schizophrenia Research: Cognition, authored by researchers at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Rutgers University.

18 Aug 2015

Newly developed technique delivers wireless power for optogenetics

A miniature device that combines optogenetics - using light to control the activity of the brain - with a newly developed technique for wirelessly powering implanted devices is the first fully internal method of delivering optogenetics.

18 Aug 2015

Kessler Foundation researcher confirms link between sleep disturbances and MS-related fatigue

Kessler Foundation's Lauren Strober, PhD, explores the association of secondary fatigue and sleep disturbances in multiple sclerosis (MS). "Fatigue in multiple sclerosis: a look at the role of poor sleep" was published in Frontiers in Neurology.

18 Aug 2015

DelMar obtains additional funding to support ongoing research project with lead product candidate VAL-083

DelMar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing proven cancer therapies in new orphan drug indications, today announced an increase in funding of up to CDN$287,000 from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) to support an ongoing research project.

17 Aug 2015

Commercial non-invasive brain stimulation device impairs cognitive performance

People show impaired memory after receiving low intensity electrical stimulation administered to the frontal part of the brain by a commercial, freely available, device. Psychologists Laura Steenbergen and Lorenza Colzato, with their colleagues at the Leiden Institute of Brain and Cognition and fellow researchers from the Max Planck Institute on Human Development, published their findings in Experimental Brain Research.

17 Aug 2015

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

‘Medical foods’ for patients with rare IEMs may cause harm when not carefully managed

Many "medical foods" are designed to help manage patients with rare inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs), and can help prevent serious and life-threatening complications. However, such special foods may cause harm in some patients when their use is not carefully monitored and managed, according to a research team led by scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

14 Aug 2015

Prion protein could play a role in depression

The discovery of antidepressant drugs in the 1950s led to the first biochemical hypothesis of depression, known as the monoamine hypothesis. This hypothesis proposes that an imbalance of certain brain chemicals is the key cause of depression.

14 Aug 2015

Neuroscientist discovers how animal's biological clock wakes up, goes to sleep

Fifteen years ago, an odd mutant fruit fly caught the attention and curiosity of Dr. Ravi Allada, a circadian rhythms expert at Northwestern University, leading the neuroscientist to recently discover how an animal's biological clock wakes it up in the morning and puts it to sleep at night.

14 Aug 2015

University Hospital's trauma center staff to raise awareness of traumatic injury prevention at Missouri State Fair

Health care providers from University Hospital's Frank L. Mitchell Jr., MD, Trauma Center will attend this year's Missouri State Fair to raise awareness of traumatic injury prevention.

14 Aug 2015

NSF awards EAGER grant to expand use of temperature-activated protein switches in neurons

Troy Zars, Mirela Milescu, and Lorin Milescu, faculty members of the Division of Biological Sciences and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Missouri, have been awarded an Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) from the National Science Foundation to expand the use of a temperature-activated protein switches in neurons. The new technology could lead to a better understanding of brain disorders in humans.

14 Aug 2015

MGH papers reveal the way anesthetics affect brains of older patients and children

Recent Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigations into the neurobiology underlying the effects of general anesthesia have begun to reveal the ways different anesthetic agents alter specific aspects of the brain's electrical signals, reflected by EEG (electroencephalogram) signatures. While those studies have provided information that may lead to improved techniques for monitoring the consciousness of patients receiving general anesthesia, until now they have been conducted in relatively young adult patients.

14 Aug 2015

Arterial shunt in hybrid palliation better for hypoplastic left heart syndrome treatment

Children born with the major congenital heart defect hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) often must undergo a series of corrective surgeries beginning at birth. While most have the standard three-stage Norwood procedure, a hybrid strategy has been introduced to offset some disadvantages associated with the Norwood surgeries. In a report in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, investigators compare whether outcomes can be improved if an arterial shunt is used as a source of pulmonary blood flow rather than the more conventional venous shunt as part of the hybrid strategy of HLHS surgical reconstruction.

14 Aug 2015

Improved method for building proteins into antibodies

Some proteins exist so fleetingly in the bloodstream that they can't be given effectively as therapies. However, building them into larger proteins, such as antibodies, can make them persist long enough to be useful. Now a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has devised an improved method for accomplishing this protein-engineering feat.

14 Aug 2015

Rice and UTHealth scientists awarded $1.02 million NSF grant to examine how the brain processes language

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.02 million grant to scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School to study how the brain processes language. The joint research may one day help people who lose the ability to communicate.

14 Aug 2015

USC kidney researcher named recipient of ASN-AHA Young Investigator Award

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California kidney researcher Janos Peti-Peterdi is the 2015 recipient of the ASN-AHA Young Investigator Award.

14 Aug 2015

TSRI-led team devises selection-based, protein-engineering method to work on obesity therapy

Some proteins exist so fleetingly in the bloodstream that they can’t be given effectively as therapies. However, building them into larger proteins, such as antibodies, can make them persist long enough to be useful. Now a team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has devised an improved method for accomplishing this protein-engineering feat.

14 Aug 2015

Brain News and Research

Further Reading

MGH study reveals effects of combined radiation and chemotherapy on the brain tissue of glioblastoma patients

New research identifies cause of disruption in brain's communication channels linked to psychiatric disorders

Regulation of tumor microenvironment may offer alternate method for cancer treatment

Tracking retinal changes may help doctors to adjust schizophrenia treatment in the future

Newly developed technique delivers wireless power for optogenetics

Kessler Foundation researcher confirms link between sleep disturbances and MS-related fatigue

DelMar obtains additional funding to support ongoing research project with lead product candidate VAL-083

Commercial non-invasive brain stimulation device impairs cognitive performance

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

‘Medical foods’ for patients with rare IEMs may cause harm when not carefully managed

Prion protein could play a role in depression

Neuroscientist discovers how animal's biological clock wakes up, goes to sleep

University Hospital's trauma center staff to raise awareness of traumatic injury prevention at Missouri State Fair

NSF awards EAGER grant to expand use of temperature-activated protein switches in neurons

MGH papers reveal the way anesthetics affect brains of older patients and children

Arterial shunt in hybrid palliation better for hypoplastic left heart syndrome treatment

Improved method for building proteins into antibodies

Rice and UTHealth scientists awarded $1.02 million NSF grant to examine how the brain processes language

USC kidney researcher named recipient of ASN-AHA Young Investigator Award

TSRI-led team devises selection-based, protein-engineering method to work on obesity therapy

Industry Focus eBook - Neurology/Neuroscience - 2nd edition eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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