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Novel technique to identify biological markers in brain development

With a unique, multi-faceted approach, researchers at the Lieber Institute for Brain Development have quantified the effect of previously unidentified anomalies in genetic expression that determine how the human brain develops from its earliest stages.

17 Dec 2014

New study reveals how the brain can distinguish between good and bad smells

Whether an odor is pleasant or disgusting to an organism is not just a matter of taste. Often, an organism's survival depends on its ability to make just such a discrimination, because odors can provide important information about food sources, oviposition sites or suitable mates.

17 Dec 2014

Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition 2014 winners announced

From algae to zebrafish, life under the microscope can be beautiful, surprising and mysterious. This week, amazing glimpses of the unseen universe earned top prizes in the 2014 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®, the world’s foremost forum for showcasing microscope images of life science subjects.

From Evident Corporation - Life Sciences 16 Dec 2014

Scientists find new signal pathway that plays vital role in learning, processing of sensory input

Scientists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany have discovered a new signal pathway in the brain that plays an important role in learning and the processing of sensory input. It was already known that distinct glial cells receive information from neurons.

16 Dec 2014

TSRI scientists awarded $2.3 million grant to find ways to erase traumatic memories

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have been awarded $2.3 million from the Department of Health and Human Services of the National Institutes of Health to better understand how memories are stored in the hopes of eventually being able to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by erasing traumatic memories without altering other, more benign ones.

16 Dec 2014

New MIT study implicates RNA-binding proteins in regulation of cancer

A new study from MIT implicates a family of RNA-binding proteins in the regulation of cancer, particularly in a subtype of breast cancer. These proteins, known as Musashi proteins, can force cells into a state associated with increased proliferation.

16 Dec 2014

ALS Association announces research funds to further understand genetic cause of ALS

The ALS Association is pleased to announce the award of $326,662 in research funds to expand ongoing natural history studies in order to further understand the most common genetic cause of ALS, in preparation for clinical trials in those whose disease is affected by this gene.

14 Dec 2014

IRCM researchers uncover mechanism that regulates dopamine levels in the brain

Researchers in Montréal led by Jacques Drouin, D.Sc., uncovered a mechanism regulating dopamine levels in the brain by working on a mouse model of late onset Parkinson's disease.

12 Dec 2014

Study reveals how the human brain heals itself after surgical removal of brain tumor

An interdisciplinary team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons from the University of Rochester has used a new imaging technique to show how the human brain heals itself in just a few weeks following surgical removal of a brain tumor.

11 Dec 2014

NYSCF, CMTA partner to advance research on genetic neuropathies

The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating cures through stem cell research, announced a collaboration today with the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association, a patient-led disease foundation with the mission to advance research on genetic neuropathies that leads to the development of new therapies.

11 Dec 2014

Johns Hopkins study shows gene expression in autism brains

While many different combinations of genetic traits can cause autism, brains affected by autism share a pattern of ramped-up immune responses, an analysis of data from autopsied human brains reveals. The study, a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, included data from 72 autism and control brains.

11 Dec 2014

Study brings researchers closer to understanding how brains work

Whether we're paying attention to something we see can be discerned by monitoring the firings of specific groups of brain cells. Now, new work from Johns Hopkins shows that the same holds true for the sense of touch. The study brings researchers closer to understanding how animals' thoughts and feelings affect their perception of external stimuli.

10 Dec 2014

Scientists develop new technique to get detailed images of mouse neurons

Scientists can now explore nerves in mice in much greater detail than ever before, thanks to an approach developed by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy. The work, published online today in Nature Methods, enables researchers to easily use artificial tags, broadening the range of what they can study and vastly increasing image resolution.

10 Dec 2014

Learning technique may help overcome cognitive issues in fragile X syndrome

A learning technique that maximizes the brain's ability to make and store memories may help overcome cognitive issues seen in fragile X syndrome, a leading form of intellectual disability, according to UC Irvine neurobiologists.

10 Dec 2014

Scientists identify brain mechanisms that turn unpleasant experiences into long-lasting memories

We know that everyday events can be easy to forget, but dangerous experiences that trigger fear can remain engraved in the brain for years. Now, scientists from New York University and Japan's RIKEN Brain Science Institute have added to our understanding how this occurs.

9 Dec 2014

Cellular mechanisms of alcohol dependence: an interview with Dr Sanna, TSRI

In the brain there are both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. These are molecules that are released from nerve endings in the brain and in the periphery and either excite or inhibit other nerve cells, also known as neurons.

8 Dec 2014

OIST Graduate University joins The Brain/MINDS Project in Japan

Governments the world over are now focusing their efforts in research towards mapping the brain to understand its secrets. America has The BRAIN Initiative and Europe, The Human Brain Project. Japan's counterpart is called The Brain/MINDS Project which aims to map the brain at various scales of detail and function over the next ten years. The maps that result from this research would subsequently be used for the development of neurotechnologies and for disease studies. The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University has become one of 17 institutions in Japan to be awarded a grant by the government to conduct this research.

7 Dec 2014

Study suggests Golgi as potential drug target for Alzheimer's treatment

Alzheimer's disease (AD) progresses inside the brain in a rising storm of cellular chaos as deposits of the toxic protein, amyloid-beta (Aβ), overwhelm neurons. An apparent side effect of accumulating Aβ in neurons is the fragmentation of the Golgi apparatus, the part of the cell involved in packaging and sorting protein cargo including the precursor of Aβ. But is the destruction the Golgi a kind of collateral damage from the Aβ storm or is the loss of Golgi function itself part of the driving force behind Alzheimer's? This was the question for Yanzhuang Wang, Gunjan Joshi, and colleagues at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as they set out to uncover the mechanism damaging the Golgi, using a transgenic mouse and tissue culture models of AD to look at what was going on.

6 Dec 2014

Genetics may play major role in Lou Gehrig's disease, study reveals

Genetics may play a larger role in causing Lou Gehrig's disease than previously believed, potentially accounting for more than one-third of all cases, according to one of the most comprehensive genetic studies to date of patients who suffer from the condition also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

6 Dec 2014

Researchers identify important neural mechanism responsible for certain chronic pain disorders

Pain typically has a clear cause-but not always. When a person touches something hot or bumps into a sharp object, it's no surprise that it hurts. But for people with certain chronic pain disorders, including fibromyalgia and phantom limb pain, a gentle caress can result in agony.

6 Dec 2014