A new peptide-carrying magnetic nanoparticle described in Science Advances has resolved both biological and behavioral symptoms in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.
A short peptide disassembles stable pathogenic tau fibrils of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a neural implant that provides information about activity deep inside the brain while sitting on its surface. The implant is made up of a thin, transparent and flexible polymer strip that is packed with a dense array of graphene electrodes. The technology, tested in transgenic mice, brings the researchers a step closer to building a minimally invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) that provides high-resolution data about deep neural activity by using recordings from the brain surface.
The work was published on Jan. 11 in Nature Nanotechnology.
“We are expanding the spatial reach of neural recordings with this technology,” said study senior author Duygu Kuzum, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. “Even though our implant resides on the brain’s surface, its design goes beyond the limits of physical sensing in that it can infer neural activity from deeper layers.”
Bursts of brain rhythms with “beta” frequencies control where and when neurons in the cortex process sensory information and plan responses. Studying these bursts would improve understanding of cognition and clinical disorders, researchers argue in a new review.
The brain processes information on many scales. Individual cells electrochemically transmit signals in circuits but at the large scale required to produce cognition, millions of cells act in concert, driven by rhythmic signals at varying frequencies. Studying one frequency range in particular, beta rhythms between about 14–30 Hz, holds the key to understanding how the brain controls cognitive processes — or loses control in some disorders — a team of neuroscientists argues in a new review article.
Drawing on experimental data, mathematical modeling and theory, the scientists make the case that bursts of beta rhythms control cognition in the brain by regulating where and when higher gamma frequency waves can coordinate neurons to incorporate new information from the senses or formulate plans of action. Beta bursts, they argue, quickly establish flexible but controlled patterns of neural activity for implementing intentional thought.
Connecting cerebral organoids with an axon bundle models inter-regional projections and enhances neural activity. Optogenetic stimulation induces short-term plasticity, offering insights into macroscopic circuit development and functionality.
ONE in 50 people could be at risk of a new type of genetic dementia, according to a study.
Researchers found people carrying two copies of the APOE4 gene mutation are “almost guaranteed” to develop Alzheimer’s in old age.
Scientists have found a way to restore brain cells impaired by a rare and life-threatening genetic disorder called Timothy syndrome.
A type of drug known as an antisense oligonucleotide allowed clusters of human neurons to develop normally even though they carried the mutation responsible for…
A therapy that restores brain cells impaired by a rare genetic disorder may offer a strategy for treating conditions like autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia.
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MIT researchers have developed a computational approach that makes it easier to predict mutations that will lead to optimized proteins, based on a relatively small amount of data. Credit: MIT News; iStock.
MIT researchers plan to search for proteins that could be used to measure electrical activity in the brain.
To engineer proteins with useful functions, researchers usually begin with a natural protein that has a desirable function, such as emitting fluorescent light, and put it through many rounds of random mutation that eventually generate an optimized version of the protein.
Liu et al.
Engineered enzymes employed in neurons enable synthesis of electroactive polymers for behavior remodeling in living animals.
Researchers identified a subcortical brain network that is thought to combine arousal and awareness, playing a key role in human consciousness.
A study recently published in Science Translational Medicine by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, both part of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, introduces a connectivity map of a brain network. This map, the researchers suggest, is essential for maintaining human consciousness.
The study involved high-resolution scans that enabled the researchers to visualize brain connections at submillimeter spatial resolution. This technical advance allowed them to identify previously unseen pathways connecting the brainstem, thalamus, hypothalamus, basal forebrain, and cerebral cortex.
DARPA just tested an autonomous tank that could help keep soldiers safe — and even more self-driving military vehicles are on the horizon. If autonomous vehicles prove capable enough for the battlefield, the tech could someday start finding its way over to civilian uses, too.
The challenge: Tanks have played an important role in the US military for more than 100 years, thanks to their tremendous firepower and armor, but every time the Army puts a soldier into a tank and sends them into combat, it’s putting their life at risk.
Continue reading “DARPA is testing this autonomous tank with glowing ‘eyes’” »
