Neurons News and Research

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Lasers manipulate neurons in worms' brains

In the quest to understand how the brain turns sensory input into behavior, Harvard scientists have crossed a major threshold. Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers have been able to take over an animal's brain, instruct it to turn in any direction they choose, and even to implant false sensory information, fooling the animal into thinking food was nearby.

24 Sep 2012

Researchers solve mystery of radial glial cells

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have solved an important piece of one of neuroscience's outstanding puzzles: how progenitor cells in the developing mammalian brain reproduce themselves while also giving birth to neurons that will populate the emerging cerebral cortex, the seat of cognition and executive function in the mature brain.

24 Sep 2012

New mouse models can help scientists study MCT8 deficiency

New mouse models can help scientists study MCT8 deficiency, an inherited genetic disorder affecting children, according to new data presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) in Québec City, Québec, Canada.

21 Sep 2012

Molecular disruptions in granule cells cause epileptic seizures in mice

Scientists have discovered the first direct evidence that a biological mechanism long suspected in epilepsy is capable of triggering brain seizures – opening the door for studies to seek improved treatments or even preventative therapies.

20 Sep 2012

Researchers identify 21 proteins that specifically bind to ataxin-1

Misfolded proteins can cause various neurodegenerative diseases such as spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) or Huntington's disease, which are characterized by a progressive loss of neurons in the brain. Researchers of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, together with their colleagues of the Universit- Paris Diderot, Paris, France, have now identified 21 proteins that specifically bind to a protein called ataxin-1.

19 Sep 2012

Diet, lack of AgRP-neurons can lead to obesity and diabetes

The absence of a specific type of neuron in the brain can lead to obesity and diabetes in mice report researchers in The EMBO Journal. The outcome, however, depends on the type of diet that the animals are fed.

19 Sep 2012

New light-based technique demonstrates that toxic proteins build up gradually in blood cells

A new light-based technique for measuring levels of the toxic protein that causes Huntington's disease (HD) has been used to demonstrate that the protein builds up gradually in blood cells. Published today (17th) in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the findings shed light on how the protein causes damage in the brain, and could be useful for monitoring the progression of HD, or testing new drugs aimed at suppressing production of the harmful protein.

18 Sep 2012

University of Warwick, NTU to launch joint global programme for neuroscience research

Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has linked up with the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, to launch a joint global programme for neuroscience research.

15 Sep 2012

Brandeis University biology professor receives NIH Director's New Innovator award

Chances are you didn't spend much time this morning getting your shoes on or thinking about which route you would take to work. But for people suffering with debilitating diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) or Alzheimer's, such simple functions -- and even activities like breathing and eating -- can be a struggle.

15 Sep 2012

Scientists successfully reverse neuronal changes in autism

People with autism suffer from a pervasive developmental disorder of the brain that becomes evident in early childhood. Peter Scheiffele and Kaspar Vogt, Professors at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, have identified a specific dysfunction in neuronal circuits that is caused by autism.

14 Sep 2012

Researchers regenerate axons at spinal cord injury site

In a study at the University of California, San Diego and VA San Diego Healthcare, researchers were able to regenerate "an astonishing degree" of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats.

14 Sep 2012

New links between ghrelin and brain cells involved in development of alcoholism

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have found new links between a protein that controls our urge to eat and brain cells involved in the development of alcoholism. The discovery points to new possibilities for designing drugs to treat alcoholism and other addictions.

14 Sep 2012

Ageing in neurons follows same rules as in senescing fibroblasts

The ageing process has its roots deep within the cells and molecules that make up our bodies. Experts have previously identified the molecular pathway that react to cell damage and stems the cell's ability to divide, known as cell senescence.

12 Sep 2012

Noisy environments cause ears of people with hearing impairments to work differently

The world continues to be a noisy place, and Purdue University researchers have found that all that background chatter causes the ears of those with hearing impairments to work differently.

12 Sep 2012

GE Healthcare announces data from [18F]flutemetamol phase III studies on Alzheimer's

GE Healthcare today announced pooled results from phase III brain autopsy and biopsy studies on the investigational PET amyloid imaging agent, [18F]flutemetamol, which showed a strong concordance between [18F]flutemetamol images and Alzheimer's disease-associated beta amyloid brain pathology.

11 Sep 2012

Stanford and MBL scientists win prestigious Lasker Awards

Scientists who invented new ways to study how "cargo" is moved within cells and, as a result, discovered a new biological motor protein, kinesin, at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Mass., have received the prestigious 2012 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation announced today.

11 Sep 2012

CHLA, House Research Institute and University of Verona to advance ABI use in children

House Research Institute and Children's Hospital Los Angeles have announced an international consortium with the University of Verona in Italy to collaborate on teaching and research to advance the use of the Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) in children worldwide.

11 Sep 2012

Study discovers pathways that govern instability of GAA/TTC repeats

A study of more than 6,000 genes in a common species of yeast has identified the pathways that govern the instability of GAA/TTC repeats. In humans, the expansions of these repeats is known to inactivate a gene - FXN - which leads to Friedreich's ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease that is currently incurable. In yeast, long repeats also destabilize the genome, manifested by the breakage of chromosomes.

11 Sep 2012

Researchers discover how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in brain tissue

Ben W. Strowbridge, PhD, Professor of Neurosciences and Physiology/Biophysics, and Robert A. Hyde, a fourth year MD/PhD student in the neurosciences graduate program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have discovered how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in isolated brain tissue.

11 Sep 2012

TauRx initiates LMTX Phase 3 trial in Pick's Disease

TauRx Therapeutics today announced the initiation of a global Phase 3 clinical trial in a type of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) also known as Pick's Disease. The announcement, which immediately follows The 8th International Conference on Frontotemporal Dementias, held 5-7 September in Manchester, England, underscores the need for new treatments for this form of dementia that is similar to Alzheimer's Disease, except that it tends to damage different areas of the brain and affects people as early as 40 years old.

10 Sep 2012