http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory When animals are on the hunt for food they likely use many senses, and scientists have wondered how the different senses work together. New research from the laboratory of CSHL neuroscientist and Assistant Professor Adam Kepecs shows that when rats actively use the senses of smell (sniffing) and touch (through their whiskers) those two processes are locked in synchronicity. The team's paper, published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, shows that sniffing and "whisking" movements are synchronized even when they are running at different frequencies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-rats-high-speed-multisensory-snapshots.html Neuroscience Tue, 07 May 2013 17:00:01 EST news287141132 When a pedestrian hears the screech of a car's brakes, she has to decide whether, and if so, how, to move in response. Is the action taking place blocks away, or 20 feet to the left? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-scientists-brain-auditory-center-transmits.html Neuroscience Wed, 01 May 2013 15:47:06 EST news286642008 Stem cells are different from all other cells in our body because they retain the remarkable genetic plasticity to self-renew indefinitely as well as develop into cell types with more specialized functions. However, this remarkable self-renewal capacity comes with a price, as stem cells can become seeds of cancer. Identifying genetic programs that maintain self-renewing capabilities therefore is a vital step in understanding the errors that derail a normal stem cell, sending it on a path to become a cancer stem cell. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-surface-marker-scientists-fish-mammary.html Cancer Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:40:01 EST news284915810 As the body ages, the physical effects are notable; wrinkles in the skin appear, physical exertion becomes harder. But there are also less visible processes going on. Inside aging brains there is another phenomenon at work, which may contribute to age-related brain defects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-neuroscientists-genes-contribute-aging-related-brain.html Neuroscience Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:05:37 EST news284630729 A study led by Zachary Mainen, Director of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, and published today (March 28) in the scientific journal, Neuron, reports that when rats were challenged with a series of perceptual decision problems, their performance was just as good when they decided rapidly as when they took a much longer time to respond. Despite being encouraged to slow down and try harder, the subjects of this study achieved their maximum performance in less than 300 milliseconds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-decisions.html Neuroscience Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:32:46 EST news283692760 Some cellular proteins have multiple, and occasionally opposing, functions. Professor Adrian Krainer [link: Faculty profile] and colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory demonstrate in a paper published online today in Molecular Cell [link: to paper via doi #] that the oncogenic protein SRSF1 can also trigger a stop in cell growth and prevent cancerous proliferation by stabilizing p53, the powerful tumor-suppressor protein. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-cancer-promoting-protein-suppress-cell-growth.html Medical research Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:09:42 EST news281884151 Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive blood cancer that is currently incurable in 70% of patients. In a bold effort, CSHL scientists are among those identifying and characterizing the molecular mechanisms responsible for this cancer in order to generate potential new therapeutics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-strategy-interfering-potent-cancer-causing-gene.html Cancer Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:00:22 EST news279811312 A rustle of undergrowth in the outback: it's a sound that might make an animal or person stop sharply and be still, in the anticipation of a predator. That "freezing" is part of the fear response, a reaction to a stimulus in the environment and part of the brain's determination of whether to be afraid of it. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-neuroscientists-memory-amygdala.html Neuroscience Mon, 28 Jan 2013 09:31:31 EST news278587877 A team of cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has solved the mystery of how one of the most powerful of the body's natural tumor-suppressing proteins, called Chd5, exerts its beneficial effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-team-mechanism-powerful-tumor-suppressor-proteins.html Cancer Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:00:06 EST news277027007 In a new paper he regards "among my most important work since the double helix," Nobelist James Watson sets forth a novel hypothesis regarding the role of oxidants and antioxidants in cancers that are currently incurable, notably in late-stage metastatic cancers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-nobel-laureate-publishes-hypothesis-late-stage.html Cancer Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:00:06 EST news276877965 A team at CSHL for the 1st time reveals the birth timing and embryonic origin of a critical class of inhibitory brain cells called chandelier cells, tracing the specific paths they take during early development into the cerebral cortex of the mouse brain. The work sheds light on the genetically programed, or "nature" part of the nature/nurture question of human development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-birth-migration-mysteries-cortex-powerful.html Neuroscience Thu, 22 Nov 2012 14:00:02 EST news272810455 Cancer cells grow fast. That's an essential characteristic of what makes them cancer cells. They've crashed through all the cell-cycle checkpoints and are continuously growing and dividing, far outstripping our normal cells. To do this they need to speed up their metabolism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-team-antisense-technology-exploits-gene.html Cancer Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:20:08 EST news270930907 A team of neuroscientists has proposed a new and potentially revolutionary way of obtaining a neuronal connectivity map (the "connectome") of the whole brain of the mouse. The details are set forth in an essay published October 23 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-neuroscientists-revolutionary-dna-based-approach-wiring.html Neuroscience Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:10:01 EST news270224877 A team of neuroscientists and chemists from the U.S. and China today publish research suggesting that a class of currently used anti-cancer drugs as well as several previously untested synthetic compounds show effectiveness in reversing memory loss in two animal models of Alzheimer's' disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-scientists-reverse-alzheimer-like-memory-loss.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:35:33 EST news267721729 Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have solved an important piece of one of neuroscience's outstanding puzzles: how progenitor cells in the developing mammalian brain reproduce themselves while also giving birth to neurons that will populate the emerging cerebral cortex, the seat of cognition and executive function in the mature brain. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-protein-key-fate-decision-cortical.html Neuroscience Fri, 21 Sep 2012 13:05:30 EST news267451518