Will we ever be able to understand the cacophonous chatter taking place between the 80 million neurons in our brains? Dr. Ofer Yizhar and his group in the Weizmann Institute of Science's Neurobiology Department have taken ...
Mar 17, 2016
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As tiny embryos in the womb, we start out with a lot more neuronal material than we actually need. During development, the body drastically prunes back the excess—cutting the branches from nerve cell bodies, known as axons, ...
Feb 18, 2016
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Damage to axons in the central nervous system (CNS) typically results in permanent functional deficits. Boosting intrinsic growth programs can dramatically augment the axon regeneration of injured neurons. If injured neurons ...
Feb 10, 2016
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How does the brain make connections, and how does it maintain them? Cambridge neuroscientists and mathematicians are using a variety of techniques to understand how the brain 'wires up', and what it might be able to tell ...
Feb 5, 2016
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A discovery into the mechanisms which lead to degeneration and loss of communication among neuron cells - the cells controlling function in the brain and nervous system - could potentially lead to future therapies for neurodegenerative ...
Dec 10, 2015
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It's a wonder of nature - and a darned good thing - that amid many billions of similar cells in the brain and spinal cord, neurons can extend their tendrillous axons to exactly the right place to form connections. Otherwise ...
Nov 19, 2015
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When peripheral nerves are damaged and their vital synaptic paths are disrupted, they have the ability to regenerate and reestablish lost connections. But what about when a nerve is severed completely, its original route ...
Nov 5, 2015
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BACE1 is the major drug target for Alzheimer's disease, but we know surprisingly little about its normal function in the CNS. Soraia Barão and Bart De Strooper (VIB/KU Leuven) now show that this protease is critically involved ...
Sep 14, 2015
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Neuroscientists know that some connections in the brain are pruned through neural development. Function gives rise to structure, according to the textbooks. But scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute ...
Aug 27, 2015
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Scientists at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have discovered that in addition to proteins, lipids are also necessary for guiding axons. Published in Science, the study shows how a phospholipid released by glial ...
Aug 27, 2015
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