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UMMS professor receives EUREKA grant to develop light activated nanoparticles for imaging brain tissue

University of Massachusetts Medical School Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Gang Han, PhD, has received a $1.3 million EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to develop light activated nanoparticles that can be used to image live brain tissue.

25 Oct 2013

LCSB researchers publish current knowledge about the genetic, molecular causes of PD

Parkinson's disease continues to puzzle physicians and biologists alike - even though it is well-established that symptoms like muscle tremors, rigidity, and, during the final stages, immobility can all be traced back to the death of a certain type of brain cell called a dopaminergic neuron. The underlying cause of this cellular death is a complex web of interrelated genetic molecular processes as well as external factors, most of the details of which are well-known. But how the various factors correlate and influence each other continues to elude the scientific community.

24 Oct 2013

Study reveals that glial cells are integral to brain function

New research by scientists at UC San Francisco shows that one of the brain's fundamental self-protection mechanisms depends on coordinated, finely calibrated teamwork among neurons and non-neural cells knows as glial cells, which until fairly recently were thought to be mere support cells for neurons.

23 Oct 2013

CSHL researchers explore how the brain integrates multiple signals to identify one unique smell

Think of the smell of an orange, a lemon, and a grapefruit. Each has strong acidic notes mixed with sweetness. And yet each fresh, bright scent is distinguishable from its relatives. These fruits smell similar because they share many chemical compounds. How, then does the brain tell them apart? How does the brain remember a complex and often overlapping chemical signature as a particular scent?

21 Oct 2013

Genetic mutation found to restore translational balance in mice

In a biological quirk that promises to provide researchers with a new approach for studying and potentially treating Fragile X syndrome, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) have shown that knocking out a gene important for messenger RNA (mRNA) translation in neurons restores memory deficits and reduces behavioral symptoms in a mouse model of a prevalent human neurological disease.

21 Oct 2013

Neurons strengthen their synapses to remain active after loss of input

The brain is an extremely adaptable organ - but it is also quite conservative. That's in short, what scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and their colleagues from the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel and the Ruhr-Universit-t Bochum were now able to show.

17 Oct 2013

Scientists identify recessive gene mutation that reduces certain protein affecting brain development

Though worlds apart, four unrelated families have been united in a medical mystery over the source of a rare inherited disorder that results in their children being born with abnormal brain growth and severe functional impairments.

17 Oct 2013

Scientists uncover faulty brain mechanism that may underlie schizophrenia in humans

Working with mice genetically engineered to display symptoms of schizophrenia, neuroscientists at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have uncovered a faulty brain mechanism that may underlie schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders in humans.

17 Oct 2013

Research in mouse whiskers reveals signal pathway from touch neuron to brain

Human fingertips have several types of sensory neurons that are responsible for relaying touch signals to the central nervous system. Scientists have long believed these neurons followed a linear path to the brain with a "labeled-lines" structure.

17 Oct 2013

Discovery of neural firing-rate set point opens door to possible treatment for devastating disorders

As we learn and develop, our neurons change. They make new pathways and connections as our brain processes new information. In order to do this, individual neurons use an internal gauge to maintain a delicate balance that keeps our brains from becoming too excitable.

17 Oct 2013

Elsevier journals currently offers 3D visualization services to authors and readers

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, and Kitware, a worldwide leader in developing advanced visualization technologies, today announced that Elsevier journals offer the opportunity to upload 3D datasets when submitting a paper for publication. This way, once published, readers can interactively explore 3D datasets next to the online article on ScienceDirect.

15 Oct 2013

Gene mutation offers clues to development of diverse neurological disorders

A research team, headed by Theodore Friedmann, MD, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, says a gene mutation that causes a rare but devastating neurological disorder known as Lesch-Nyhan syndrome appears to offer clues to the developmental and neuronal defects found in other, diverse neurological disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

10 Oct 2013

Neuroscientist receives CAREER grant to research on auditory processing and sound localization

Twenty years ago Khaleel A. Razak was an electronics engineering student focused on creating a telephone for hearing-impaired children in Chennai, India. Today he is a neuroscientist at the University of California, Riverside whose research on how the brain processes everyday sounds may lead to therapies for age-related hearing problems and Fragile X Syndrome.

10 Oct 2013

Research: VIP interneurons inhibit activation of other inhibitory neurons in cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex contains two major types of neurons: principal neurons that are excitatory and interneurons that are inhibitory, all interconnected within the same network.

7 Oct 2013

Scientists discover key function in molecule that regulates sleep, metabolism and hunger

Why does hunger keep us awake and a full belly make us tired? Why do people with sleep disorders such as insomnia often binge eat late at night? What can sleep patterns tell us about obesity?

5 Oct 2013

Newly opened Manchester-based DNA bank may support discoveries on motor neuron disease

A specialist DNA Bank, based at The University of Manchester, is now open to the worldwide research community, supporting more crucial discoveries about motor neurone disease (MND), a devastating terminal illness.

5 Oct 2013

ISIS conducts phase 2 study of ISIS-SMNRx in infants with type I spinal muscular atrophy

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIS) announced today that it dosed the first infant in the 12 mg dose group in the Phase 2 study evaluating ISIS-SMNRx in infants with Type I spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

4 Oct 2013

Researchers suggest new view of how stem cells may help repair brain following trauma

University of South Florida researchers have suggested a new view of how stem cells may help repair the brain following trauma. In a series of preclinical experiments, they report that transplanted cells appear to build a "biobridge" that links an uninjured brain site where new neural stem cells are born with the damaged region of the brain.

4 Oct 2013

Study indicates that RNA translation is dictated by translational hotspots

Protein synthesis in the extensions of nerve cells, called dendrites, underlies long-term memory formation in the brain, among other functions. "Thousands of messenger RNAs reside in dendrites, yet the dynamics of how multiple dendrite messenger RNAs translate into their final proteins remain elusive," says James Eberwine, PhD, professor of Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-director of the Penn Genome Frontiers Institute.

27 Sep 2013

MGH researchers identify rare gene mutations that appear to cause late-onset AD

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified and validated two rare gene mutations that appear to cause the common form of Alzheimer's disease (AD) that strikes after the age of 60.

25 Sep 2013

Neuron News and Research

UMMS professor receives EUREKA grant to develop light activated nanoparticles for imaging brain tissue

LCSB researchers publish current knowledge about the genetic, molecular causes of PD

Study reveals that glial cells are integral to brain function

CSHL researchers explore how the brain integrates multiple signals to identify one unique smell

Genetic mutation found to restore translational balance in mice

Neurons strengthen their synapses to remain active after loss of input

Scientists identify recessive gene mutation that reduces certain protein affecting brain development

Scientists uncover faulty brain mechanism that may underlie schizophrenia in humans

Research in mouse whiskers reveals signal pathway from touch neuron to brain

Discovery of neural firing-rate set point opens door to possible treatment for devastating disorders

Elsevier journals currently offers 3D visualization services to authors and readers

Gene mutation offers clues to development of diverse neurological disorders

Neuroscientist receives CAREER grant to research on auditory processing and sound localization

Research: VIP interneurons inhibit activation of other inhibitory neurons in cerebral cortex

Scientists discover key function in molecule that regulates sleep, metabolism and hunger

Newly opened Manchester-based DNA bank may support discoveries on motor neuron disease

ISIS conducts phase 2 study of ISIS-SMNRx in infants with type I spinal muscular atrophy

Researchers suggest new view of how stem cells may help repair brain following trauma

Study indicates that RNA translation is dictated by translational hotspots

MGH researchers identify rare gene mutations that appear to cause late-onset AD

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