Neuroscience

A team of researchers at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Kiel Campus, the Kiel University, and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, have developed an innovative method for real-time molecular genetic classification of brain tumors during surgery. This approach combines DNA methylation analysis with advanced machine learning technologies to provide detailed information about the tumor type during surgery.

Marijuana-like endocannabinoids produced by your own body—how do they travel through the brain? It turns out that these fatty messenger molecules are transported in fatty vesicles. This surprising discovery contrasts with how traditional messenger molecules move. Dopamine and serotonin, for instance, travel as free-floating molecules between nerve cells.

A new artificial intelligence model measures how fast a patient’s brain is aging and could be a powerful new tool for understanding, preventing and treating cognitive decline and dementia, according to USC researchers.

A research team has identified different subtypes of white matter (WM) astrocytes, including a unique type with the ability to multiply and potentially aid in brain repair. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, the scientists mapped astrocyte diversity across different brain regions and species, providing the first detailed molecular profile of WM astrocytes.

A new study led by Prof. Yoram Burak of the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unveils a unifying mathematical framework to explain how “place cells” in the hippocampus encode spatial information across diverse species and environments.

Scientists have developed an AI-powered tool that detects 64% of brain abnormalities linked to epilepsy that human radiologists miss.

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have found that intracranial hemorrhages, or “brain bleeds,” caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the brain, double a person’s risk of developing dementia later in life.

Stressful or traumatic experiences in childhood have been shown to negatively impact an individual’s health as an adult. Those affected face an increased risk of illness and often suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, and cardiovascular or metabolic diseases. Until now, little has been known about whether such experiences could contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Why do our mental images stay sharp even when we are moving fast? A team of neuroscientists led by Professor Maximilian Jösch at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has identified a mechanism that corrects visual distortions caused by movement in animals. The study, conducted in mice, identifies a core function that can be generalized across the vertebrate visual system, including primates such as humans. The findings are published in Nature Neuroscience.

Years before tau tangles show up in brain scans of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a biomarker test developed at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine can detect small amounts of the clumping-prone tau protein and its misfolded pathological forms that litter the brain, cerebrospinal fluid and potentially blood, new research published today in Nature Medicine suggests.