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Epigenomic modifications play key role in the development of lung tumors

As cancer cells evolve, many of their genes become overactive while others are turned down. These genetic changes can help tumors grow out of control and become more aggressive, adapt to changing conditions, and eventually lead the tumor to metastasize and spread elsewhere in the body.

23 Jul 2020

Study reveals brain network mechanism causing spatial memory impairment

Patients with Alzheimer's disease frequently suffer from spatial memory loss, such as no recognition of where they are, and forgetting where they put their belongings.

21 Jul 2020

Using AI to pinpoint neurons involved in gait reacquisition

Researchers at EPFL are able to get paralyzed rodents walking again by stimulating the animals' damaged spinal cords.

20 Jul 2020

Researchers discover a new class of synapse-saving proteins

Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have discovered a new class of proteins that protect synapses from being destroyed.

17 Jul 2020

Study finds link between mental imagery and vision

Medical University of South Carolina researchers report in Current Biology that the brain uses similar visual areas for mental imagery and vision, but it uses low-level visual areas less precisely with mental imagery than with vision.

12 Jul 2020

Biologists discover extraordinary regeneration of injured neurons in zebrafish

Biologists from the University of Bayreuth have discovered a uniquely rapid form of regeneration in injured neurons and their function in the central nervous system of zebrafish.

12 Jul 2020

Study could help determine motor abilities that are difficult to recover after traumatic brain injury

After a traumatic brain injury, why do some people quickly regain their skills while others face long-lasting setbacks? Boston University neuroscientist Jerry Chen and his colleagues have been trying to answer this question by understanding which parts of the brain are used to process sensory information and remember different skills.

10 Jul 2020

Scientists identify a new role for covalent linker in transmembrane ion channels

In the molecular-level world of ion channels - passageways through membranes that carry signals in a cell's environment and allow it to respond - researchers have debated about the role of a small piece of the channel called a linker, says computational biophysicist Jianhan Chen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

10 Jul 2020

Study sheds new light on neurobiological processes that control drug-related adaptations

The lab of Jeremy Day, Ph.D., at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has used single-nucleus RNA sequencing approaches to compare transcriptional responses to acute cocaine in 16 unique cell populations from a portion of the brain called the nucleus accumbens, or NAc.

10 Jul 2020

Neuronal subtypes that drive locomotion in fruit fly reveal an unexpected diversity

A new study by MIT neuroscientists into how seemingly similar neuronal subtypes drive locomotion in the fruit fly revealed an unexpected diversity as the brain's commands were relayed to muscle fibers.

8 Jul 2020

Study provides new insights into the mystery of scent

The premiere of the movie Scent of Mystery in 1960 marked a singular event in the annals of cinema: the first, and last, motion picture debut "in glorious Smell-O-Vision."

2 Jul 2020

Common asthma drug may offer potential as treatment for Alzheimer's disease

A new study reveals that the common asthma drug salbutamol may offer potential as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

1 Jul 2020

Study sheds light on selective neuronal vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease

When Alzheimer's disease strikes, the entire brain doesn't crumble at once. Instead the mind unravels like grim clockwork, beginning with the telltale degradation of a group of brain cells in the entorhinal cortex.

1 Jul 2020

Research reveals new genetic insights into how the brain folds

New research is helping unlock the mystery of how the brain folds as a baby develops in the womb - a process critical to healthy brain function.

1 Jul 2020

Novel drug could protect the brain during and after stroke

Neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute have identified a novel drug that could protect the brain during and after a stroke.

1 Jul 2020

Researchers track brain receptor as it transmits or inhibits neural signals

For the first time, researchers in the lab of CSHL Professor Hiro Furukawa have been able to track each atom in the NMDA receptor, an important brain protein, as it transmits or inhibits neural signals. Critical for brain development and function, the receptor converts chemical messages between cells into electrical signals within a neuron.

30 Jun 2020

Remodeling may make neurons more prone to Alzheimer's disease

Neurons that regularly remodel are more prone to Alzheimer's disease and die when that remodeling goes awry, a new study suggests. The work is the first to track the progression of Alzheimer's at the genetic and molecular levels within neurons vulnerable to the disease.

29 Jun 2020

MIT engineers create a focused approach to imaging neural activity

When neurons fire an electrical impulse, they also experience a surge of calcium ions. By measuring those surges, researchers can indirectly monitor neuron activity, helping them to study the role of individual neurons in many different brain functions.

26 Jun 2020

Study shows why ApoE4 increases risk of Alzheimer's disease

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is kind of like a delivery service for the human brain. It supplies neurons with important nutrients, including with polyunsaturated fatty acids - which are building blocks of the membranes surrounding the neurons.

26 Jun 2020

New therapeutic approach for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases

Xiang-Dong Fu, PhD, has never been more excited about something in his entire career. He has long studied the basic biology of RNA, a genetic cousin of DNA, and the proteins that bind it. But a single discovery has launched Fu into a completely new field: neuroscience.

25 Jun 2020