Summary: Researchers discovered a specific neurotransmitter that helps assign either positive or negative emotions to memories.
Source: Salk Institute.
Researchers at the Salk Institute and colleagues have discovered the molecule in the brain responsible for associating good or bad feelings with a memory.
It’s all about a mutation of genome. Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a set of human gene mutations that prevent cognitive decline and dementia in older adults, according to a new study published on July 9, 2022, in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. The scientists focused on one of the mutated genes and traced its evolution through its appearance in the human genome.
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In a milestone that could turn sci-fi into fact, the first U.S. clinical trial of a brain implant that returns the power of communication to severely paralyzed people has begun. | In a milestone that could turn sci-fi into fact, the first U.S. clinical trial of a brain implant that returns the power…
Brain-computer interfaces have become a practical (if limited) reality in the US. Synchron says it has become the first in the country to implant a BCI in a human patient. Doctors in New York’s Mount Sinai West implanted the company’s Stentrode in the motor cortex of a participant in Synchron’s COMMAND trial, which aims to gauge the usefulness and safety of BCIs for providing hands-free device control to people with severe paralysis. Ideally, technology like Stentrode will offer independence to people who want to email, text and otherwise handle digital tasks that others take for granted.
Surgeons installed the implant using an endovascular procedure that avoids the intrusiveness of open-brain surgery by going through the jugular vein. The operation went “extremely well” and let the patient return home 48 hours later, according to Synchron. An ongoing Australian trial has also proven successful so far, with four patients still safe a year after receiving their implants.
It may take a long time before doctors can offer Synchron’s BCIs to patients. The company received FDA approval for human trials in July 2021, and it’s still expanding the COMMAND trial as of this writing. Still, the US procedure represents a significant step toward greater autonomy for people with paralysis. It also represents a competitive victory — Elon Musk’s Neuralink has yet to receive FDA permission for its own implant.
Posted in neuroscience
Summary: A new study using 3D-MINFLUX technology allowed researchers to image the active zone of synapses with the precision of a few nanometers.
Source: University of Gottingen.
Scientists at the Institute for Auditory Neuroscience, UMG, the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the Abberior Instruments GmbH have applied high-resolution 3D-MINFLUX technology for precise 3D representation of the molecular organization in the active zone of rod photoreceptor cells.
Researchers at Rice University have shown how they can hack the brains of fruit flies to make them remote controlled. The flies performed a specific action within a second of a command being sent to certain neurons in their brain.
The team started by genetically engineering the flies so that they expressed a certain heat-sensitive ion channel in some of their neurons. When this channel sensed heat, it would activate the neuron – in this case, that neuron caused the fly to spread its wings, which is a gesture they often use during mating.
The heat trigger came in the form of iron oxide nanoparticles injected into the insects’ brains. When a magnetic field is switched on nearby, those particles heat up, causing the neurons to fire and the fly to adopt the spread-wing pose.
Scientists have demonstrated that a brain-penetrating candidate drug currently in development as a cancer therapy can promote regeneration of damaged nerves after spinal trauma.
The research used cell and animal models to show that when taken orally the candidate drug, known as AZD1390, can block the response to DNA
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
