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Johns Hopkins funds 12 research groups to launch new BSi program on cognitive disorders

The Johns Hopkins Brain Sciences Institute has funded a total of $5 million to 12 different research groups at Hopkins to launch the new Synapses, Circuits and Cognitive Disorders Program. The new BSi program aims to understand the fundamentals of brain function by focusing on the synapse — the point of contact between two nerve cells — to better understand cognitive disorders.

9 Feb 2011

Coordinated behavior occurs whether or not neurons are actually connected via synapses

The brain-awake and sleeping-is awash in electrical activity, and not just from the individual pings of single neurons communicating with each other. In fact, the brain is enveloped in countless overlapping electric fields, generated by the neural circuits of scores of communicating neurons.

3 Feb 2011

Gut bacteria may influence mammalian brain development and adult behavior

A team of scientists from across the globe have found that gut bacteria may influence mammalian brain development and adult behavior. The study is published in the scientific journal PNAS, and is the result of an ongoing collaboration between scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the Genome Institute of Singapore.

1 Feb 2011

Research shows nestin regulates formation of neuromuscular junction

In a study published in the Jan. 30, 2011, advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, Salk Institute of Biological Studies investigators led by Kuo-Fen Lee, PhD., show that nestin has reason for being in a completely different cell type--muscle tissue.

30 Jan 2011

Connectome remains dynamic during development, says Scripps Research

Connected highways of nerve cells carry information to and from different areas of the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Scientists are trying to draw a complete atlas of these connections-sometimes referred to as the "connectome"-to gain a better understanding of how the brain functions in health and disease.

28 Jan 2011

Why minor details of an episode are linked to long-term memories

Neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Institute of Learning and Memory have uncovered why relatively minor details of an episode are sometimes inexplicably linked to long-term memories. The work is slated to appear in the Jan. 13 issue of Neuron.

14 Jan 2011

Emotional stress can affect motor coordination and other cerebellum-dependent cognitive functions: Study

Research conducted by Iaroslav Savtchouk, a graduate student, and S. June Liu, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has shown that a single exposure to acute stress affected information processing in the cerebellum - the area of the brain responsible for motor control and movement coordination and also involved in learning and memory formation.

13 Jan 2011

Removal of ZIP proteins from hippocampus cell protects them from injury

Researchers in the Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory in the department of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered that zinc enters cells through specialized protein gates known as ZIP transporters, and removing these ZIP proteins from cells in the hippocampus significantly protects them from injury.

5 Jan 2011

New research sheds light on how neurons make connections with one another

Newly published research led by Professor Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory sheds important new light on how neurons in the developing brain make connections with one another.

22 Dec 2010

Clue to the blues that come with the flu

Vanderbilt University researchers may have found a clue to the blues that can come with the flu - depression may be triggered by the same mechanisms that enable the immune system to respond to infection.

21 Dec 2010

Researchers begin placebo-controlled trial to test drug treatment for Rett syndrome

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have begun a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to test a potential drug treatment for Rett syndrome, the leading known genetic cause of autism in girls.

16 Dec 2010

Research findings could lead to new therapies to correct neurological disorders

Yale University researchers have found that a single molecule not only connects brain cells but also changes how we learn. The findings, reported in the December 9 issue of the journal Neuron, may help researchers discover ways to improve memory and could lead to new therapies to correct neurological disorders.

9 Dec 2010

Molecular switch plays crucial role in addictive behavior and memory processes

Learning and memory formation are based on the creation of new connections between neurons in the brain. Also, behaviors such as nicotine addiction manifest themselves in long-term changes of neuronal connectivity and can - at least in this respect - be viewed as a form of learning.

30 Nov 2010

State-of-the-art imaging system helps locate and count myriad connections between brain nerve cells

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, applying a state-of-the-art imaging system to brain-tissue samples from mice, have been able to quickly and accurately locate and count the myriad connections between nerve cells in unprecedented detail, as well as to capture and catalog those connections' surprising variety.

18 Nov 2010

Researchers improvise fruit fly as a model system to study brain development, disorders

VIB researchers attached to the K.U.Leuven have improved the fruit fly as a model for studying the connections between brain cells. The researchers developed a specific marker for a part of the fly's nerve cell which had previously been difficult to distinguish. Their discovery will not only contribute to gaining a better insight into brain development but also makes the fruit fly into a better model system for studying brain development and brain disorders.

15 Nov 2010

Neurons recycle protein components for neurotransmitter release

Neurons communicate via chemical transmitters which they store in the bubble-like synaptic vesicles and release as required. To be able to react reliably to stimulation, neurons must have a certain number of "acutely releasable" vesicles. With the help of a new method, neuroscientists at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in G-ttingen have now discovered that neurons systematically recycle the protein components necessary for transmitter release and in this way guarantee the reliability of signal transmission in the brain.

11 Nov 2010

New radiotracer application may advance understanding of estrogen-related diseases

A study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has demonstrated that a molecule "tagged" with a radioactive form of carbon can be used to image aromatase, an enzyme responsible for the production of estrogen, in the human brain. The research, published in the November issue of Synapse, also uncovered that the regions of the brain where aromatase is concentrated may be unique to humans.

4 Nov 2010

University of Padua Professor wins Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

Frankfurt am Main. The chemist and biologist Professor Cesare Montecucco, 62, of the Department of Biomedical Research at the University of Padua, Italy, has won the 100,000 euro Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2011 for his contribution to research in the field of bacterial diseases, including tetanus, botulism, anthrax and Helicobacter pylori associated diseases.

27 Oct 2010

Drugs that restore mitochondria function may treat Alzheimer's disease at early stages: Research

Before Alzheimer's patients experience memory loss, the brain's neurons have already suffered harm for years. A new study in mouse models by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center has found that the brain's mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, are one of the earliest casualties of the disease. The study, which appeared in the online Early Edition of PNAS, also found that impaired mitochondria then injure the neurons' synapses, which are necessary for normal brain function.

14 Oct 2010

Stimulating brain's nicotine receptors may eliminate side effects of Alzheimer's drug: Research

A team of neuroscientists has discovered important new information in the search for an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease, the debilitating neurological disorder that afflicts more than 5.3 million Americans and is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. Hey-Kyoung Lee, associate professor in the University of Maryland Department of Biology, and her research team have shown that they may be able to eliminate debilitating side effects caused by a promising Alzheimer's drug by stimulating the brain's nicotine receptors.