Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. Most cases occur in people over 65, and are not genetically inherited. Roughly five percent of Alzheimer's patients suffer from familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), an uncommon form that tends to strike sooner, and is related to a genetic predisposition - most commonly, a mutation in the presenilin 1 gene (PS1). A recent study, led by Dr. Miguel...
Read MoreOn Monday, March 1, the Brain Institute at the University of Utah hosts its March Symposium – Imaging Neurons. We are pleased to report that two of the neuroscientists speaking at the event are MBF Bioscience customers. Dr. Erik Jorgensen, a biology professor at the University of Utah will discuss fluorescence electron microscopy. Dr. Karl Deisseroth, a professor of bioengineering and psychiatry and behavioral sciences...
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Birds and mammals hear binaurally, hearing sounds through two ears. Binaural hearing allows them to determine which direction a sound came from—a pivotal element of survival. Doctors Armin H. Seidl, Edwin W. Rubel, and David M. Harris of Seattle’s Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center at the University of Washington recently published a study in the Journal of Neuroscience that may encourage scientists to think in...
Read MoreDr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa is on a quest to find better therapies for the fight against brain cancer. He and his team of neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins University study stem cells in the brain's subventricular zone to better understand how brain tumors are formed. Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa gives the keynote talk "Brain Cancer: Current Paradigms" at the Fifth Annual Neuroscience Research Forum. Hosted by the Vermont Chapter...
Read MoreBy 2020 we'll all be astronauts. Or so hopes British industrialist Sir Richard Branson. The Virgin Group tycoon predicts the next decade will see a space station on the moon and a manned mission to Mars. But while space tourism would certainly be exciting, the human brain is the big thing to watch in the next ten years according to the recent Times Online article...
Read MoreMen and women are different, not just physically, but mentally. How and why are there these profound differences? Find out Thursday night at Burlington, Vermont's ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center's Café Scientifique. As part of an ongoing series of science related discussions, Dr. Cynthia Forehand, Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Vermont, hosts a discussion on gender-related differences in the human...
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We're pleased to announce that MBF Bioscience has been selected as one of the "Best Places to Work in Vermont" for the third time in a row. The list of fifteen companies is compiled by Best Companies Group in an effort to recognize excellence among state employers. Companies are evaluated based on the benefits they provide and their levels of employee engagement and satisfaction. We'll...
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If you start smoking as a teen, it’s much harder to quit. University of Vermont Neurobiologist Rae Nishi wants to find out why. And thanks to a $1 million Challenge Grant, Nishi and her team will be able to further study the way adolescent brains react to nicotine. The grant is one of 200 National Institute of Health grants allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment...
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It is possible to image the brain of a single fruit fly, but how about 100? This is what, MBF Bioscience Customer and Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University, Mark Schnitzer, would like to do. In an interview published in the October 16 issue of Science, Schnitzer explained that "massive brain imaging" would revolutionize brain research by allowing neuroscientists to simultaneously study multiple flies of...
Read MoreStress is something we’d all like to have a little less of. Though it is a natural, genetic response that allows us to adapt to various situations, stress can certainly impede upon daily life. If allowed to reach chronic levels, stress can "cause damage and accelerate disease," one of the main points of Dr. Bruce McEwen’s 2002 book The End of Stress As We Know...
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