Neurodegenerative Disease News and Research

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New Technique Unifies Protein Size Measurements to Predict Aggregation Risk

Proteins are necessary for many bodily processes. Numerous physiological functions and activities are carried out by thousands of distinct proteins.

21 Jan 2025

Study Unveils Surprising Cause of Brain Cell Death in Huntington's Disease

Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Medical School, and McLean Hospital have discovered a surprising mechanism by which the inherited genetic mutation known to cause Huntington's disease leads to the death of brain cells.

17 Jan 2025

New Discovery Sheds Light on How Monoamines Regulate Brain Rhythms

A collaborative effort between Mount Sinai and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has shed valuable light on how monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and now histamine help regulate brain physiology and behavior through chemical bonding of these monoamines to histone proteins, the core DNA-packaging proteins of our cells.

9 Jan 2025

ALS Stem Cell Model Reveals Increased Susceptibility to Cell Death

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fast-progressing neurodegenerative disease with an average survival time of three years. In ALS, certain types of neurons called motor neurons that are required for muscle contractions die off, leading to progressive paralysis affecting most muscles of the body. The molecular causes of ALS are poorly understood, and effective treatments are missing.

20 Dec 2024

Space Experiment Reveals Surprising Brain Cell Behavior

Microgravity exposure accelerates brain cell development in organoids, revealing potential implications for neurodegenerative disease research and space health.

18 Dec 2024

Biomaterials to Regenerate the Nervous System: Carl Zeiss Foundation Sponsors InteReg Project at Mainz University

Collaborative project involving Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and the Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research will receive EUR 6 million.

11 Dec 2024

New Study Challenges Traditional View of Axon Shape and Function

In a provocative new study, scientists challenge a fundamental tenet in neuroscience about the shape of axons -- the long, thin filaments radiating from nerve cells that transmit electrical signals from cell to cell – and propose a new model for understanding how information is transmitted in the brain.

9 Dec 2024

New Frontier in Protein Quality Control and Brain Health

Beyond their use as fuel during fasting, the body's production of ketones plays a part in controlling cellular functions and aging processes.

3 Dec 2024

The Immune System’s Role in Neurodegenerative Disease

Researchers have discovered a new connection between Parkinson’s disease development and the immune system.

2 Dec 2024

Sodium Transport Found to Play a Surprising Role in Mitochondrial Energy Production

The GENOXPHOS (Functional Genetics of the Oxidative Phosphorylation System) group at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) has discovered a crucial role of sodium in the generation of cellular energy.

20 Sep 2024

The Complex Link Between DNA Modification and ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease which remains incurable. The disease is characterized by the selective degeneration of upper motor neurons in the motor cortex as well as the lower motor neurons in the brainstem and spinal cord. The cause of ALS remains unknown in 90 percent of cases, which are referred to as sporadic ALS because there is no family history for the disease. Cumulative evidence suggests that sporadic ALS may result from complex interactions between genetic susceptibility and aging.

23 Aug 2024

Deep-Learning Model Identifies Parkinson's Disease-Specific Neuroanatomical Features

A deep-learning-based contrastive approach to examine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from Parkinson’s disease patients.

14 Aug 2024

Noninvasive Ultrasound Method Enables Tracking of Gene Expression in Specific Brain Regions

The ability to alter or prevent the expression of faulty genes in the brain could be leveraged as a powerful therapeutic against neurodegenerative disease. However, the molecular underpinnings of the living brain are still largely inaccessible, hampering progress on such promising therapeutics.

9 Aug 2024

Researchers Capture Protein Tangle Formation in Real-Time

Protein tangles known as amyloid-beta (A-beta) aggregates are most famously linked to neurodegenerative illnesses like Alzheimer's. Nevertheless, despite its frequent attention, scientists have not been able to fully comprehend how A-beta assembles and disassembles.

22 Jul 2024

UCL Study Uncovers Astrocytes' Role in Brain Energy Boosting Mechanism

A key mechanism which detects when the brain needs an additional energy boost to support its activity has been identified in a study in mice and cells led by UCL scientists.

4 Jul 2024

Novel protein biomarker panel can detect Parkinson's disease in early stages using blood samples

A team of researchers used multiplexed mass spectrometry data and a machine learning model to identify biomarkers that can predict Parkinson’s disease.

27 Jun 2024

Modifying Cellular Interactions Near Amyloid Plaques May Offer New Alzheimer's Treatments

Researchers at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine have achieved a big breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease research by discovering a new technique to potentially slow or even stop disease development.

28 May 2024

Glutamate tRNA Fragments Play Key Role in Brain Aging and Alzheimer's Disease

A significant research paper published in the journal Cell Metabolism by the team of Prof. LIU Qiang at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) reveals the critical role of glutamate tRNA fragments in brain aging and Alzheimer's disease.

14 May 2024

Unveiling Mechanisms to Block Tau Aggregation

The buildup of aberrant, misfolded tau proteins in the brain is the cause of a variety of neurodegenerative illnesses, such as Fronto Temporal Dementia (FTD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), and Cortico Basal Degeneration (CBD).

4 Apr 2024

Unraveling the Mysteries of Neuronal Communication Circuits

The basic building blocks of the central nervous system are neurons, or nerve cells, which play a crucial role in signal transduction pathways.

3 Apr 2024