Brain Disease News and Research

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Developing imaging techniques for early detection of eye and brain diseases

The eyes may be the window to the soul, but to scientists, they are also the window to the brain. In particular, the retina, a delicate light-sensing neural network with specialized cells at the back of the eyeball, is linked directly to the brain via the optic nerve and is considered by some to be part of the brain itself.

4 Apr 2019

Portable mini microscope could improve scientists' ability to study brain disease in living mice

Working with mice, a team of Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers has developed a relatively inexpensive, portable mini microscope that could improve scientists' ability to image the effects of cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and other conditions in the brains of living and active mice over time.

28 Mar 2019

Purdue engineers develop tiny glutamate sensors for spinal cord injuries

Your chances of getting a nasty migraine increase following a spinal cord injury, thanks to a chemical messenger in the brain that spikes to toxic levels, past studies have suggested.

28 Mar 2019

Scientists grow most sophisticated brain organoid to date

Researchers at Cambridge Biomedical Campus have grown the most sophisticated brain organoid to date, providing new opportunities for scientists to understand human brain development and neurological disorders.

20 Mar 2019

Study shows how neuroactive steroids inhibit activity of pro-inflammatory proteins

For the first time, scientists discovered how neuroactive steroids naturally found in the brain and bloodstream inhibit the activity of a specific kind of protein called Toll-like receptors, which have been known to play a role in inflammation in many organs, including the brain.

14 Feb 2019

Researchers identify regulatory mechanism underlying obesity

Obesity − as research in the past decade has shown − is first and foremost a brain disease. Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München, partners in the German Center for Diabetes Research, have now discovered a molecular switch that controls the function of satiety neurons and therefore body weight. The findings were published in the journal 'Nature Metabolism'.

31 Jan 2019

Research brings new hope to treating degenerative brain diseases

Alzheimer's disease is the most representative degenerative brain disease, accounting for 60 to 80% of all dementia cases. In search for new mechanism for AD, the research team led by Professor Seong-Woon Yu of Brain and Cognitive Sciences paid attention to the autophagy of microglia, brain immune cells, is suppressed by inflammation.

17 Jan 2019

SLU researcher aims to eliminate TB with focus on high-risk patients

In a recent paper published in PLOS One, Soumya Chatterjee, M.D., assistant professor of infectious diseases, allergy and immunology at Saint Louis University, presents data to show that a focus on high-risk tuberculosis patients may be the answer to stalled progress in stamping out the illness in the United States.

19 Dec 2018

SLU researchers explore how fetal exposure to inflammation can alter immunity in newborns

Saint Louis University researchers are studying how fetal exposure to inflammation can alter immune responses after birth.

12 Dec 2018

New dye is a step towards personalized neuromedical prophylaxis of the future

Signs of neurodegenerative diseases, visible years before the emergence of clinical manifestations, can be detected during the examination of medical samples by means of fluorescence microscopy.

29 Nov 2018

Study reveals why mitochondria are often strangely shaped inside the brain

Columbia neuroscientists have discovered why mitochondria, tiny power generators that keep our cells healthy, are often strangely shaped inside the brain.

28 Nov 2018

Novel methodology for characterizing neurons could lead to better understanding of brain disease

It takes a lot of cells to make a human brain. The organ houses not only an enormous quantity of neurons (tens of billions), but also an impressive diversity of neuron types. In recent years, scientists have been developing inventories of these cell classes--information that will be essential for understanding how the brain works.

28 Nov 2018

Eyes may be portal for prions to enter the body finds study

A recent study has found that prion proteins that cause a deadly brain disease may enter the body via the eyes.

23 Nov 2018

O'Donnell Brain Institute helps U.S. effort to study neural circuits behind learning, memory

UT Southwestern's O'Donnell Brain Institute will help in a national effort to understand the neural circuits behind learning, memory, and behavior.

3 Nov 2018

The appendix may be associated with Parkinson’s disease

The vermiform appendix or appendix as we commonly know it, is a vestigial organ of the body which does not come into notice unless it is inflamed (such as in appendicitis). In cases of appendicitis, the finger like part of the gut at the base of the caecum is surgically removed.

1 Nov 2018

Ten Allen Distinguished Investigators for 2018 announced by Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group

Nanoparticles that could reprogram a cancer patient's immune system inside their own body. Understanding a mysterious type of brain cell in the hopes of shedding new light on Alzheimer's disease. Reimagining nuclei, the DNA-storage compartments of our cells, as miniature lava lamps.

30 Oct 2018

Exercise could reduce risk of falling for older adults with AD

Alzheimer's disease is a brain disease that causes changes that kill brain cells. AD is a type of dementia, which causes memory loss and problems with thinking and making decisions.

29 Oct 2018

Study reveals safety, efficacy of brexpiprazole for schizophrenia patients with severe psychotic symptoms

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and H. Lundbeck A/S announced study results on the safety and efficacy of brexpiprazole in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia experiencing severe psychotic symptoms during an acute episode. The data will be presented at the upcoming Psych Congress, held in Orlando from October 25-28, 2018.

26 Oct 2018

SLU researcher seeks to find solutions for 'chemo brain' symptoms and side effects of opioids

With a pair of RO1 grants from the National Institutes of Health, pain researcher Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D., will embark on two new research projects, studying chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment, or "chemo brain," symptoms and unwanted side effects of opioids.

23 Oct 2018

New research identifies modifiable dementia risk factor in elderly people

For older adults, it may seem as though the die is already cast regarding their odds of developing dementia, but new research from the University of Pittsburgh has identified a dementia risk factor among older adults that should be modifiable even well into old age.

16 Oct 2018