Lifeboat Foundation

Tumors affecting the central nervous system (CNS), either primary or secondary, are highly prevalent and represent an unmet medical need. Prognosis of these tumors remains poor, mostly due to the low intrinsic chemo/radio-sensitivity of tumor cells, a meagerly known role of the microenvironment and the poor CNS bioavailability of most used anti-cancer agents. The BBTB is the main obstacle for anticancer drugs to achieve therapeutic concentrations in the tumor tissues. During the last decades, many efforts have been devoted to the identification of modalities allowing to increase drug delivery into brain tumors. Until recently, success has been modest, as few of these approaches reached clinical testing and even less gained regulatory approval.

Summary: Empathy is induced by synchronized neural oscillations in the right hemisphere of the brain, a new mouse study reveals.

Source: Institute for Basic Science.

A research team led by Dr. SHIN Hee-Sup at the Center for Cognition and Sociality (CCS) within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Daejeon, South Korea has discovered the underlying neural mechanism that allows us to feel empathy.

When we press our temples to soothe an aching head or rub an elbow after an unexpected blow, it often brings some relief. It is believed that pain-responsive cells in the brain quiet down when these neurons also receive touch inputs, say scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, who for the first time have watched this phenomenon play out in the brains of mice.

The team’s discovery, reported Nov. 6 in the journal Science Advances, offers researchers a deeper understanding of the complicated relationship between pain and touch and could offer some insights into chronic pain in humans.

“We’re interested in this because it’s a common human experience,” says McGovern investigator Fan Wang. “When some part of your body hurts, you rub it, right? We know touch can alleviate pain in this way.” But, she says, the phenomenon has been very difficult for neuroscientists to study.

Newborns need to store vast amounts of new information quickly as they learn to navigate the world. Silent synapses – the immature connections between neurons that have no neurotransmitter activity yet – are thought to be the hardware that allow this rapid information storage to occur early in life.

First discovered decades ago in newborn mice, these potential neurological intersections were thought to disappear as the animals aged. A recent study by researchers from MIT in the US has found this vanishing act might not be as extreme as initially presumed.

The team hadn’t set out to look specifically at these potential connections. Rather, they were continuing previous work on the locations of nerve-cell extensions called dendrites.

Continue reading “Millions of ‘Silent Synapses’ Could Be The Key to Lifelong Learning” »

They discovered that removing PLD3 from neurons using gene therapy resulted in a significant decrease in axonal swelling.

A study on Alzheimer’s published recently by Yale University is quite attention-grabbing. Because the disease’s crippling symptoms could be brought on by swelling in the brain brought on by amyloid plaques, say the experts.

Continue reading “Yale research may uncover the true cause of Alzheimer’s — Swelling of brain axons” »

Gravity could be a leading cause of irritable bowel syndrome, along with increased serotonin levels and changes in the gut microbiome.

Approximately 20 to 40 percent of all visits to gastroenterologists are due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms. The common disorder affects between 25 and 45 million people in the United States and up to ten percent of the world’s population, yet experts aren’t sure of how or why it develops.

However, there is no dearth of theories. While one explains that IBS is a gut-brain disorder, another theory states that IBS is caused by abnormalities in the gut microbiome.

A gene linked to autism spectrum disorders plays a critical role in early brain development and may shape the formation of both normal and atypical nerve connections in the brain, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

The study, published Nov. 28 in Neuron, employed a combination of sophisticated genetic experiments in mice and analysis of human brain imaging data to better understand why mutations in a gene called Gabrb3 are linked to a high risk of developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a related condition called Angelman Syndrome. Both conditions involve abnormal behaviors and unusual responses to sensory stimuli, which appear to stem, at least in part, from the formation of atypical connections between neurons in the brain.

“Neuron al connections in the brain, and developmental synchronization of neuronal networks, are perturbed in individuals with autism spectrum disorders, and there are specific genes that are implicated in the pathogenesis of ASD,” said co-first author Dr. Rachel Babij, a former student in the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-Ph. D. program in the laboratory of Natalia De Marco García, an associate professor in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Cajal Neuroscience, a biotechnology company integrating human genetics, functional genomics and advanced microscopy to discover novel targets and therapeutics for neurodegeneration, has launched with the completion of a $96 million Series A financing.

The financing was led by The Column Group and Lux Capital, with additional participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Evotec, Bristol Myers Squibb, Alexandria Venture Investments, Dolby Family Ventures and other investors.

Longevity. Technology: Seattle-based Cajal is committed to discovering novel therapeutics for neurodegeneration; by focusing on the mechanistic, spatial and temporal complexity of neurodegeneration, the biotech’s powerful platform is designed to unlock the complexity of disease at unprecedented scale, and integrates expertise in neuroscience, neuroanatomy and computational biology with state-of-the-art technologies for high-throughput functional validation.

Continue reading “Cajal Neuroscience launches with $96 million to transform neurodegeneration drug discovery” »

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Billeh et al. systematically integrate multi-modal data about neuron types, connectivity, and sensory innervations to create biologically realistic models of the mouse primary visual cortex at two levels of resolution, shared freely as a community resource.