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Genetics

·February 1, 2011·3 min read

Oxidative Stress, Defective Nucleoli Likely a Cause of Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease may be caused by oxidative stress within cells due to defective nucleoli. Dopamine producing neurons are particularly sensitive...

Brain Cancer Featured Genetics Neurology

·January 31, 2011·4 min read

Genetic Mutations in Brain Tumors Could Turn Out Useful

Scientists have discovered genetic mutations in brain tumors that alter brain tumor metabolism. The scientists report that cells with defective...

Electrophysiology Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·January 27, 2011·3 min read

Myelination, Schwann Cells Devastated in Erk Knock-out Mice

The researchers knocked out the Erk gene during peripheral nervous system development in mice. The researchers noticed the neurons of these knock-out mice were largely unaffected, but Schwann cells were "just devastated at every stage of development."

Featured Neuroscience

·January 19, 2011·4 min read

MicroRNA-29 Makes Brain Cells Resist Programmed Cell Death

Neuroscientists found that the specific microRNA, microRNA-29 (miR-29), can make brain cells resistant to programmed cell death. The researchers injected...

Featured Neurology

·January 18, 2011·2 min read

Protein Misfolding and Aggregation Roles in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Max Planck researchers discovered that large, less hydrophobic proteins with a significant increase of disorder in their structures were more...

Electrophysiology Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·January 12, 2011·4 min read

Adrenaline Receptor Imaged for First Time

New imaging techniques using newly developed stable antibodies and X-ray crystallography allows imaging of the adrenaline receptors for the first...

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·January 10, 2011·2 min read

Gene Translation Targeted in Huntington’s Disease Research

Huntington’s disease research using simple organisms such as baker’s yeast has yielded new information about underlying mechanisms of Huntington’s disease...

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·December 20, 2010·2 min read

Another Marathon Mouse Engineered – Boosting Acetylcholine Reduces Fatigue

After inserting a gene into mice that increases choline transporter and as a result increases acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junctions, the engineered mice were able to run on treadmills twice as long as controls without the inserted gene.

Genetics Neuroscience

·December 17, 2010·2 min read

Pain in the Potassium Channels

The removal of a certain class of potassium channels from the surface of nociceptors is believed to be a key factor in inflammatory pain signaling. Using gene interference to reduce the expression of these specific potassium channels on nociceptors, researchers were able to produce hyperexcitability in nociceptors resembling that seen in inflammatory pain signaling.

Featured Neurology

·December 13, 2010·3 min read

Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome – FXTAS Breakthrough

Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS) research shows that inhibiting histone acetylation could help control expression of toxic mRNA. FXTAS symptoms are mainly caused by overproduction of toxic mRNA, making this research very important for researchers working with FXTAS.

Brain Cancer Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·November 15, 2010·2 min read

Zif Protein Controls Brain Stem Cells

Zif proteins have been found to control whether a brain stem cell differentiates into a neuron or renews as a brain stem cell. There are Zif related proteins in humans that may be targeted by new treatments for brain cancer and other diseases.

Genetics Neuroscience

·October 18, 2010·2 min read