UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have identified a protein that appears to act as a master control switch for reactive gliosis, a prominent feature of many neurodegenerative diseases that is thought to contribute to their pathology. The researchers’ findings, published in Neuron, could eventually lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases and other neurodegenerative conditions.

The bacteria that cause the plague evolved to become less deadly over time, allowing it to continue infecting people in three separate pandemics over more than a thousand years, new research said Thursday.