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New UAB-developed gene therapy for ALS receives orphan drug designation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to a new gene therapy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) developed at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and licensed to the U.S. company Klotho Neurosciences, Inc.

15 Jul 2025

Targeting vasopressin neurons alleviates postpartum depression

Researchers at Nanjing University's School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with colleagues from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Peng Cheng Laboratory, have identified a specific brain circuit that eases depressive-like behaviors in a mouse model of postpartum depression, providing a promising target for future treatments. This work addresses how sudden drops in estrogen after childbirth can trigger mood disturbances.

15 Jul 2025

Erin Schuman wins 2026 HFSP Nakasone Award for neuroscience breakthrough

The International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) is pleased to award the 2026 HFSP Nakasone Award to Erin Schuman for her breakthrough related to the function and plasticity of neuronal synapses, their mRNA triggered function, and change during memory formation.

11 Jul 2025

Researchers create over 400 types of nerve cells from stem cells

Nerve cells are not just nerve cells. Depending on how finely we distinguish, there are several hundred to several thousand different types of nerve cell in the human brain according to the latest calculations.

11 Jul 2025

New insights into neural replay and memory formation from flying bats

Every day, our brain takes countless fleeting experiences - from walks on the beach to presentations at work - and transforms them into long-term memories.

10 Jul 2025

Lower body temperature found to directly influence glucose metabolism in mice

Some mammals are capable of hibernating during periods of low food availability in an effort to conserve energy and survive.

10 Jul 2025

Chan Zuckerberg initiative unveils AI model to decode cellular behavior

Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced its latest AI model aimed at helping researchers better understand how cells behave by focusing on the key networks that control cell behavior, making complex biological problems, like cancer, easier to solve.

10 Jul 2025

Unlocking the brain’s language to fight Alzheimer’s

June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month. With an estimated 55 million people living with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia worldwide, advancing understanding of these complex diseases is critical to finding new treatments, and potentially, cures.

7 Jul 2025

Real time imaging reveals how visual experience rewires the brain

Scientists have long known that the brain's visual system isn't fully hardwired from the start-it becomes refined by what babies see-but the authors of a new MIT study still weren't prepared for the degree of rewiring they observed when they took a first-ever look at the process in mice as it happened in real-time.

4 Jul 2025

Restoring neuron balance in the amygdala reverses anxiety in mice

The Synaptic Physiology laboratory, led by Juan Lerma at the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, has discovered that a specific group of neurons in the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotion regulation, plays a key role in the emergence of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and altered social behavior.

4 Jul 2025

Targeting a key enzyme could reverse early Parkinson's effects

Putting the brakes on an enzyme might rescue neurons that are dying due to a type of Parkinson's disease that's caused by a single genetic mutation, according to a new Stanford Medicine-led study conducted in mice.

2 Jul 2025

Brain cells can burn fat to fuel activity

While glucose, or sugar, is a well-known fuel for the brain, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have demonstrated that electrical activity in synapses—the junctions between neurons where communication occurs—can lead to the use of lipid or fat droplets as an energy source.

1 Jul 2025

Brain stimulation restores synaptic plasticity in Alzheimer’s mouse model

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative condition that affects a significant proportion of older people worldwide. Synapses are points of communication between neural cells that are malleable to change based on our experiences.

30 Jun 2025

Exploring neural responses to mental exhaustion in healthy adults

In experiments with healthy volunteers undergoing functional MRI imaging, scientists have found increased activity in two areas of the brain that work together to react to, and possibly regulate, the brain when it's "feeling" tired and either quits or continues exerting mental effort.

27 Jun 2025