Imagine if you could switch your depression off like a light. Researchers did it in mice. They used optogenetics to gain more insight into how brain circuits work in cases of depression, and discovered that different types of stress trigger different activity patterns in the same brain circuit. Two papers published recently in the journal Nature describe how neuronal activity in specific brain circuits in mice...
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Thirty-six high school students passionate about neuroscience will be competing at the 4th annual Vermont Brain Bee on February 9th, 2013 at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Participants will be asked questions about a wide variety of topics: anatomy and development, learning and memory, stress, types of research, neurogenerative disorders, etc. They will also get the opportunity to engage in neuroscience activities and...
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If a head gets hit hard enough, the trauma occurs instantly. Neurons die, the brain swells as microglia cells rush to the damaged area, and the protective armor known as the blood brain barrier might even rupture. But it doesn't end there. Long term effects include cognitive impairment, loss of sensory processing, and susceptibility to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Researchers at the University of South Florida say...
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No two neurons are exactly alike. Structure dictates function, so for scientists to fully understand the way different types of neurons work, they must first get to know their forms. Scientists at the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine at the Research Center Jülich in Jülich, Germany use Neurolucida to perform neuron reconstruction, the most effective method for studying neuron morphology. In their paper “Improved biocytin labeling and...
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Neurotrophic factors may be the key to the cure for Parkinson’s, Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and other neurodegenerative disorders. Scientists have known this for over twenty years. But the question continues to loom – how does one safely and effectively deliver the neurotrophic factors to the damaged neurons? Dr. Raymond Bartus and his team at Ceregene, a biotechnology company in San Diego, have developed an innovative approach...
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Some children raised in orphanages grow up to develop social disorders, and there's not all that much modern medicine can do about it. But scientists at Harvard Medical School are working on gaining a better understanding of how early isolation affects a developing brain. Their research gives new insight into the mechanisms at play, and indicates that timing and healthy myelination are crucial. “Social isolation from...
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A baby cries and her mother's maternal instincts kick in. She picks her baby up, rocks her, feeds her. Changes in a new mother's brain compel her to act in ways that ensure her baby's survival. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are working on learning more about those changes. Their recent focus is on the olfactory bulb – a region of the brain...
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MBF Bioscience was featured in an episode of Emerging Science, a television series that features Vermont scientists who expand human knowledge and help solve problems around the world. The episode explored the link between traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder in military personnel coming back from war. MBF Bioscience President Jack Glaser and Staff Scientist Susan Hendricks give us some perspective from a research standpoint...
Read More Long-time MBF customers at the University of Rochester Medical Center are considered leading experts in researching myelin diseases. They recently published a review article in Science titled “Glial Progenitor Cell-Based treatment and Modeling of Neurological Disease” in which they featured output from Stereo Investigator in the Figure 2 section to illustrate chimeric brains. {Glial Progenitor Cell–Based Treatment and Modeling of Neurological Disease Steven A. Goldman, Maiken Nedergaard, and Martha S....
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Approximately 11,000 Americans become paralyzed from spinal cord injuries each year with little hope for recovery. But new research from the University of California at San Diego saw some promising results. The research team, led by MBF Bioscience customer Dr. Mark Tuszynski and Dr. Paul Lu saw movement in paralyzed rats after grafting a gel containing neural stem cells to the rats' injured spinal cords. According...
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