neurons news from FierceBioResearcher

In new work that has both political as well as scientific implications, a team of scientists has been able to Read more...

Neural stem cells were used to stimulate the learning and memory abilities of mice engineered to mimic the severe disabilities produced by Alzheimer's and stroke. The researchers at UC Irvine say Read more...

Scientists at Manchester University have grown new peripheral nerves by using stem cells extracted from fat, and they are suggesting that the new therapy may be available to patients in as little as Read more...

There are a wide range of cognitive disorders associated with schizophrenia: poor memory, impaired attention, difficulty with problem-solving. And the current class of drugs used to treat the Read more...

Stem Cell Research A consortium of scientists has created an "encyclopedia" of ESCs. Read more...

A team of scientists say they have developed a drug that blocks the SIRT2 enzyme, which protects the neurons damaged by Parkinson's disease. In an article to come out this week in the journal Science, researchers at Harvard show how inhibition of SIRT2--a member of the sirtuin family, which is linked to aging--prevents the toxicity of the protein aggregates that are believed to be behind the neuronal death characteristic of PD. Contrary to "classic" approaches that try to …

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Researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have reversed mild retardation and severe autism in mice by inhibiting the enzyme called p21-activated kinase (PAK). Their study focused on Fragile X Syndrome (FXS)--a leading cause of retardation and autism--which is linked to a mutated X chromosome gene. The PAK enzyme controls the connections between neurons and the brain.

"Strikingly, PAK inhibition also restored electrical …

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Scientists have developed a novel strategy for tackling neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease: encouraging an individual's own cells to "eat" the malformed proteins that lead to the disease. Professor David Rubinsztein, Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow at the University of Cambridge, has been studying the molecular biology underlying Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Huntington's occurs when a protein known as huntingtin builds up in the brain cells …

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Northwestern University researcher Samuel Stupp has presented the results of a study in which he injected nanomaterials into the severed spinal cords of mice, allowing them to walk again after several weeks of therapy. The nanomaterials he used were designed to self-assemble into nanofibers which repaired damaged neurons. The research offers new insights into the near-term research potential of nanotechnology and offers hope for patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's who suffer from …

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MORE RESEARCH

Online scientific journals like PLoS ONE and JoVE are pointing the way to a new approach to publishing scientific research. The online approach is threatening to upend the traditional approach of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal. Report

A group of leading stem cell researchers say that the Bush administration's approach to the field is …

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