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Category: neuroscience – Page 515

High-Risk, High-Payoff Bio-Research For National Security Challenges — Dr. David A. Markowitz, Ph.D., IARPA

Dr. David A. Markowitz, Ph.D. (https://www.markowitz.bio/) is a Program Manager at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA — https://www.iarpa.gov/) which is an organization that invests in high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).

IARPA’s mission is to push the boundaries of science to develop solutions that empower the U.S. IC to do its work better and more efficiently for national security. IARPA does not have an operational mission and does not deploy technologies directly to the field, but instead, they facilitate the transition of research results to IC customers for operational application.

Currently, Dr. Markowitz leads three research programs at the intersection between biology, engineering, and computing. These programs are: FELIX, which is revolutionizing the field of bio-surveillance with new experimental and computational tools for detecting genetic engineering in complex biological samples; MIST, which is developing compact and inexpensive DNA data storage devices to address rapidly growing enterprise storage needs; and MICrONS, which is guiding the development of next-generation machine learning algorithms by reverse-engineering the computations performed by mammalian neocortex.

Previously, as a researcher in neuroscience, Dr. Markowitz published first-author papers on neural computation, the neural circuit basis of cognition in primates, and neural decoding strategies for brain-machine interfaces.

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Medical television shows sometimes depict thoughts skipping across the brain as action potentials that ignite like exploding stars. While it looks dramatic and impressive, today’s brain-imaging technologies can’t visualize brain activity so sensitively. A new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called DIANA – direct imaging of neuronal activity – may get us closer, though.

An alternative to BOLD fMRI

A brain signal begins with an action potential caused by rapid changes in voltage across cellular membranes. Researchers involved in this proof-of-concept study, reported in Science, say that DIANA might measure this neuronal activity by capturing the intracellular voltage of a group of neurons.

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b Department of Polymer Science and Engineering and Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210,023, China.

c Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich, Vladimir Prelog Weg 1, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.

Received 21st February 2019, Accepted 17th April 2019.

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A discovery at University of Limerick in Ireland has revealed for the first time that unconventional brain-like computing at the tiniest scale of atoms and molecules is possible.

Researchers at University of Limerick’s Bernal Institute worked with an international team of scientists to create a new type of organic material that learns from its past behavior.

The discovery of the “dynamic molecular switch” that emulates synaptic behavior is revealed in a new study in the journal Nature Materials.

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Researchers have discovered the human brain’s enhanced processing power may stem from differences in the structure and function of our neurons. Credit: Queensland Brain Institute / Professor Stephen Williams.

The human brain’s function is remarkable, driving all aspects of our creativity and thoughts. However, the neocortex, a region of the human brain responsible for these cognitive functions, has a similar overall structure to other mammals.

Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ), The Mater Hospital, and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital have shown that changes in the structure and function of our neurons may be the cause of the human brain’s increased processing power.

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The experiments demonstrated that the blood cells can sense when the environment outside the capillaries is low in oxygen – which occurs when neurons take up more oxygen to generate energy – and respond by rushing to deliver more. They also observed that this response if very rapid, occurring less than a second after oxygen is pulled out of the surrounding tissue.

This phenomenon is unique to the capillaries because of their size. The thin walls of the microvessels mean that the oxygen levels in adjacent brain tissue are mirrored within the capillaries, which can signal to red blood cells to spring into action.

The findings could have implications for a number of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. It has been observed that blood flow in the brains of people with the disorder is impaired when compared to healthy brains. The difficulty in delivering the oxygen necessary for neuronal activity may help explain the cognitive difficulties that are one of the hallmarks of the disease.

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