Neuroscience News and Research

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UT Southwestern researchers uncover core function of gene involved in Fragile X syndrome

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered how the genetic mutation that causes Fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental retardation, interferes with the "pruning" of nerve connections in the brain. Their findings appear in the April 29 issue of Neuron.

10 May 2010

Evotec and Genentech sign drug discovery deal

Evotec AG today announced that it has entered into a multi-year integrated drug discovery alliance with Genentech Inc., a wholly owned member of the Roche Group (SWX:RO) (SIX:ROG) (Pink Sheets:RHHBY), to discover novel small molecule therapeutics.

10 May 2010

Findings may help develop a new class of drugs for diabetes

More than half a century after researchers identified a promising way to treat diabetes based on blocking the breakdown of insulin in the body, a research team led by a scientist at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have developed potent molecules that can do just that.

10 May 2010

Sagacity may have a neurobiological basis

In 2009, Dilip V. Jeste, MD, and Thomas W. Meeks, MD, both professors in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and researchers at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, published a paper proposing that sagacity might have a neurobiological basis.

10 May 2010

Closer to understanding age-related memory loss and drug to boost memory

The world's scientific community may be one step closer to understanding age-related memory loss, and to developing a drug that might help boost memory. In an editorial published May 7 in Science, J. David Sweatt, Ph.D., chair of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Neurobiology, says that drugs known as histone deacetylase inhibitors are showing great promise in stopping memory loss - and even in boosting the formation of memory in animal models.

7 May 2010

Two-day symposium on molecular neuroimaging

Today, SNM's Molecular Imaging Center of Excellence kicked off a two-day symposium bringing together individuals from multiple scientific disciplines-including chemistry, engineering, physics, molecular biology, neurosciences and imaging sciences-to promote the emerging field of molecular neuroimaging.

7 May 2010

Inadvertent reprogramming of genes in peripheral nervous system may cause chronic pain

Chronic pain severely limits patients' quality of life and is among the cost drivers in U.S. health care. Patients can suffer pain without an apparent cause and often fail to respond to available treatments. Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators now report that chronic pain may be caused by the inadvertent reprogramming of more than 2,000 genes in the peripheral nervous system. The research findings appear in the current issue of the journal Genome Research.

7 May 2010

Neuroscientists show how individual neurons carry significant aspects of sensory processing

Pioneering a novel microscopy method, neuroscientist Arthur Konnerth and colleagues from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have shown that individual neurons carry out significant aspects of sensory processing: specifically, in this case, determining which direction an object in the field of view is moving.

7 May 2010

Peptides: A new clue on the origins of life

Emory University scientists have discovered that simple peptides can organize into bi-layer membranes. The finding suggests a "missing link" between the pre-biotic Earth's chemical inventory and the organizational scaffolding essential to life.

7 May 2010

Researchers use new tools to study how brain responds when injury occurs

Researchers at four institutions, led by Stanford University and Brown University, have begun an effort with more than $14 million of federal funding to learn both how the brain and its microcircuitry react to sudden physiological changes and what can be done to encourage recovery from injury.

6 May 2010

Swedish Cancer Institute, Elekta renew partnership to continue flow of technology, services to cancer patients

Swedish Cancer Institute and Elekta launch renewed partnership agreement to continue the flow of world-class technology, services to cancer patients in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

From Elekta 6 May 2010

Two Cardiff University academics elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences

Two Cardiff University academics, both leaders in different aspects of neuroscience research, have received one of the leading honours in medical science.

6 May 2010

Neuroscientist Snyder presents annual Ellis S. Grollman Lecture at UMB

If a drug was developed to block a key protein linked to the onset of Huntington's Disease, it could have a clear path to the part of the brain most affected by the disease, while not bothering other parts of the brain and body, said distinguished neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, MD, to an audience of about 300 students and faculty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

6 May 2010

Researchers to identify rare genetic mutation to produce histamine against TS

A single, very unusual family with Tourette syndrome has led Yale School of Medicine researchers to identify a rare mutation in a gene that is required to produce histamine. The finding provides a new framework to understand many years of data on the role of histamine function in the brain and points to a potentially novel approach to treatment of tics and Tourette.

6 May 2010

Bone marrow stem cells show promise in multiple sclerosis

A groundbreaking trial to test bone marrow stem cell therapy with a small group of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been shown to have possible benefits for the treatment of the disease.

6 May 2010

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex involved in cognitive aspects of ToM, says study

The ability to infer what another person is thinking is an essential tool for social interaction and is known by neuroscientists as "Theory of Mind" (ToM), but how does the brain actually allow us to do this? We are able to rationally infer what someone knows, thinks, or intends, but we are also able to "slip into their shoes" and infer how they feel, and it seems that the brain processes these different types of information in different ways, as confirmed by a new report in the June 2010 issue of Elsevier's Cortex.

5 May 2010

Australian researchers show positive effect of growth hormone on athletic performance

Australian researchers have published the results of a study, for the first time showing a positive effect of growth hormone on athletic performance.

5 May 2010

Anavex reports promising results from ANAVEX 2-73 Alzheimer's disease compound in animal studies

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. is pleased to report promising results from animal studies with ANAVEX 2-73, the company's lead compound for the treatment and modification of Alzheimer's disease.

5 May 2010

Merck reports non-GAAP EPS of $0.83 for first-quarter 2010

Merck & Co., Inc. today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2010. The company reported non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings per share (EPS) for the first quarter of $0.83, which excludes purchase accounting adjustments, merger-related expenses and restructuring costs, as well as a tax charge related to the recently enacted health care reform legislation. First-quarter GAAP EPS was $0.09.

4 May 2010

New study shows people with BAV more likely to have brain aneurysms

A new study shows that people with a common heart defect may also be more likely to have brain aneurysms. The study is published in the May 4, 2010, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

4 May 2010