Neuroscience

The Facts on ALS – Articles and Videos, Featured, Health Topics, Neuroscience – Hackensack Meridian Health

October 11, 2021

ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a debilitating disease that affects motor nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This causes a wide variety of symptoms, but most commonly and universally, people with ALS experience progressive muscle weakening and paralysis. As many as 30,000 people in the United States have ALS, and about 5,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.

You may have heard of ALS due to the Ice Bucket Challenge, or even as its previously common name, Lou Gehrigs disease. Here are answers to some of the most common questions asked about ALS.

No. Unfortunately there is no way to prevent ALS, says Mary Sedarous, M.D., neuromuscular medicine specialist and director of the ALS Center at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and assistant professor, Department of Neurology, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. For many people with ALS, there is not even a clear identifying cause of the disease. Researchers have studied numerous potential causes, such as diet, lifestyle and environment, among others. However, to this date, no clear reason has been identified.

For other patients with ALS, the cause is genetic. For about 5 to 10 percent of people with ALS, there is a clear genetic line to another family member with ALS. This is called familial ALS.

Genetic testing can be done for ALS, says Dr. Sedarous. I recommend discussing your options with a genetic counselor before undergoing the testing process.

Because there is no clear identifying cause for many cases of ALS, it is difficult to pinpoint risk factors, says neurologist Florian Thomas, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the ALS Center and professor and founding Chair, Department of Neurology, Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. Dr. Thomas explains that the clearest risk factor is having a family history of ALS.

That being said, Dr. Thomas points to some other factors to consider:

It is hard to say. Currently there is no cure for ALS, but that is not due to lack of effort from doctors and researchers.

Research is ongoing, and treatments and medications that help slow the effects of ALS are continually being discovered, says Dr. Thomas. Today, ALS treatment is an interprofessional undertaking that includes respiratory support, medication, physical therapy, speech therapy, assistive devices and other forms of treatment and support. And at Hackensack, we are pursuing a small, phase 1 study that seeks to show that re-educating the bone marrow to produce less neuro-inflammation may be helpful in ALS.

The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.

Follow this link:
The Facts on ALS - Articles and Videos, Featured, Health Topics, Neuroscience - Hackensack Meridian Health

Neuroscience

Linking mysteries of neuroscience with caring for mental health | Opinion – Sun Sentinel

These collaborations are essential to overcoming the disparities between physical and mental health care and creating a movement for understanding that taking care of our brains is just as important as taking care of our bodies. Its a movement we co-created with community partners, research institutes, theSouth Florida Science Center and AquariumandFlorida Atlantic Universitys Stiles-Nicholson Brain Instituteover the past five years through the annualTrain the Braincampaign.Train the Brain, Connecting Brain Science, Community & Care, is offering the last of two virtual educational events featuring Amishi Jha, Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of Miami and director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, at 1 p.m. Oct. 19.

Original post:
Linking mysteries of neuroscience with caring for mental health | Opinion - Sun Sentinel

Neuroscience

The 6 best habits to keep your brain fit, according to neuroscience – BBC Science Focus Magazine

If youve ever had the feeling that you arent as sharp as you used to be perhaps you get frustrated that you cant put a name to an actor or politician who has been in the news, for instance, or maybe youre not as quick at mental arithmetic as you were it might have given you pause for thought about your brains fitness and whether its all downhill from here.

Its true that the brain typically finishes developing in our twenties, after which there is a gradual cognitive slowing with age, so its good to start thinking about these things early. Later in life, there is also the risk of dementia, caused by diseases such as Alzheimers; inevitably, countries with ageing populations are now witnessing rising rates of dementia.

Thankfully, however, rates of cognitive slowing and dementia risk are both influenced by what experts call modifiable risk factors. In short, theres reason to be optimistic because there are things you can do lifestyle habits you can adopt to maintain your brain sharpness and protect yourself from risk of dementia.

Stay mentally active to build your cognitive reserve

Psychologists and gerontologists refer to a concept known as cognitive reserve which is essentially your brains ability to adapt in the face of ageing or illness.

For instance, if a person has high cognitive reserve, then even if they show some of the biological markers of Alzheimers (such as the clumps of protein that accumulate and harm brain function), its possible they will still perform well on tests of their mental performance. Its as if they have spare mental capacity that allows them to cope with the damage.

Importantly, there are many activities you can adopt that are considered to build your cognitive reserve, such as reading, playing musical instruments or singing, completing challenging puzzles, learning a second language and travelling. Put simply, there really is truth to the old adage to use it or lose it.

Read more about brain health:

Socialising is the ultimate brain-training activity Getty Images

You will have seen the computerised brain training games that purport to keep your grey matter razor-sharp. The problem with these games is that their benefits dont generalise youll get better at the games, but you wont see your gains spill over into other aspects of your life. The games might even be harmful if playing them to excess diverts you from socialising with friends and family. Thats because socialising is the ultimate brain-training activity.

Conversely, social isolation is considered a major risk factor for dementia. As a team of researchers at the University of Groningen put it in their recent comprehensive review of this topic, people with less social participation, less frequent social contact and more feelings of loneliness have an increased risk to develop dementia.

So, seek out company and lively conversation when you can it will give your brain a great work-out and the feelings of belonging will be a boon for your mental health too. If youre not sure where to start, try volunteering or join a debating club.

A sedentary lifestyle can speed up cognitive decline Getty Images

Your brain depends on oxygen and other nutrients to function well and so it follows that the better your cardiovascular health, the fitter and healthier your brain will be too. At the same time, a sedentary lifestyle and obesity are both associated with speedier cognitive decline and increased risk of dementia.

So, try to build an active lifestyle into your routine. Regular running, cycling, swimming or similar exercise classes will do the trick, but if thats not your thing, you could try simply walking and taking the stairs more often, or staying more active through gardening or regularly completing some other kind of hobby that gets your heart pumping, such as choir singing.

The Mediterranean diet can provide your brain with the nutrients it needs to stay healthy Getty Images

Its also good for your brain if you can sustain a healthy diet. Avoiding too much saturated fat will stop your arteries becoming clogged, and plenty of fruits and green vegetables will provide your body with ample antioxidants that help cleanse the brain of free radicals a kind of harmful by-product of various biological processes.

To meet these goals, the World Health Organization recommends the so-called Mediterranean Diet, which is high in fruit, vegetables, legumes (such as lentils, beans and peas), nuts, cereals and olive oil, while being low in saturated fats and meat. If thats too overwhelming, make a start by aiming to eat one more item of fruit a day and avoiding too many supermarket ready meals.

More surprisingly perhaps, there are also links between personality and brain health. People who score higher in Openness to Experience (one of the so-called Big Five traits thats associated with curiosity, creativity and a willingness to try out new things) tend to be sharper and at lower risk of dementia. As a team at the University of Georgia put it, Higher Openness was related to better psychomotor speed, cognitive flexibility, and working memory in depressed and non-depressed older adults.

Fortunately there are habits you can adopt to boost your Openness to Experience, such as seeking out more awe (for example by taking walks in stunning surroundings or watching nature documentaries), travelling to exotic and unfamiliar places, and enjoying mind-expanding cultural experiences (such as live theatre).

Thinking positively is the final piece of the jigsaw Getty Images

Hopefully by now, once youve established this range of positive habits around being mentally and physically active, socialising plenty, being open-minded and eating well, youll be feeling pretty optimistic about your brains future, especially as you get older. This is actually the final piece of the jigsaw.

A growing amount of research suggests that your attitudes toward ageing can have real consequences for your neural health. If you expect to become increasingly slow and prone to forgetfulness, that could well become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Alternatively, if you realise that your brain health is to some extent in your own hands, and thats its possible with the right lifestyle and routines to remain mentally agile through life, then that is actually likely to benefit your brain.

So, seek out positive older role models if you can, take the advice in this article to heart, and seize the chance to train your brain like a muscle you may yet unlock your full potential.

Read more about psychology:

Continued here:
The 6 best habits to keep your brain fit, according to neuroscience - BBC Science Focus Magazine

Neuroscience

Research Fellow, Imaging/Cognitive Neuroscience job with ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | 268065 – Times Higher Education (THE)

Department of Psychology

Location: EghamSalary: 36,438 to 38,516 per annum - including London AllowancePostType: Full TimeClosingDate: 23.59 hours GMT on Monday 01 November 2021Reference: 0921-345

Full-Time, Fixed-Term

Applications are invited for the post of Research Fellow in the Psychology Department.

We are seeking an enthusiastic, productive and highly-skilled early-career scientist for a postdoctoral research position linked to a recently awarded BBSRC grant held jointly across Royal Holloway, University of London, and Cardiff University (e.g., Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, CUBRIC). This exciting project will apply state-of-the-art 7-Tesla MRI (and connectom diffusion MRI) to examine the functional neuroanatomy and connectivity of the human subiculum and broader hippocampal network. The studies will focus primarily on the fine-grained mapping of hippocampal network connectivity, as well as developing novel naturalistic cognitive paradigms to examine how the subiculum constructs representations of scenes and events.

The successful candidate will join a multi-disciplinary research team across Royal Holloway and Cardiff University and will be expected to work closely with a second postdoctoral researcher based at CUBRIC. This will include conceptualisation, implementation, design/analysis and dissemination of multimodal neuroimaging studies, as well as other activities linked to the grant (e.g., arranging regular online meetings, public engagement, supporting early-career researchers/students). The post-holder will also be expected to spend time at the partner institution when feasible. In line with our commitment to open science, they will be expected to implement reliable, reproducible, and efficient approaches to data management, thus ensuring the long-term value of these data for the wider neuroimaging community. There will also be the opportunity to analyse existing in-house and publicly available multimodal imaging datasets across human and nonhuman primates (structural/diffusion MRI, 3T/7T resting and task-fMRI). The research fellow will be expected to provide mentorship and support to junior researchers and students in the team on imaging data analyses.

Successful applicants will have a Ph.D. in cognitive/imaging neuroscience, experimental psychology, or related field (e.g., computational neuroscience or computer science). Strong skills in advanced statistical methods (e.g., MVPA, intersubject correlation analysis and/or network analyses), manuscript preparation, and working closely with other institutions are essential. A primary interest in the neuroscience of memory and spatial navigation and/or the analysis of existing large-sample datasets is desirable.

This full-time position is available to start as soon as possible. This is a fixed-term post until 30/09/2024.

Informal enquiries may be made to Dr Carl Hodgetts (carl.hodgetts@rhul.ac.uk) or Prof Andrew Lawrence (lawrencead@cardiff.ac.uk) and more information about the project can be found here:https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV010549%2F1.

To find out more about Dr Carl Hodgetts Connected Memory Lab at Royal Holloway, please visitwww.connectedmemorylab.com. You can also visit the websites ofProf Andrew Lawrence(co-PI),Dr Jiaxiang Zhang,Prof Kim Graham, andProf John Aggletonto find out more about the work of the co-investigators.

In return we offer a highly competitive rewards and benefits package including:

The post is based in Egham, Surrey where the College is situated in a beautiful, leafy campus near to Windsor Great Park and within commuting distance from London. As described above, the post will also require the research fellow to some spend time at Cardiff University for research activities such as data collection and project meetings.

To view further details of this post and to apply please visithttps://jobs.royalholloway.ac.uk. For queries on the application process the Human Resources Department can be contacted by email at:recruitment@rhul.ac.uk

Facilities

The Psychology Department, located in Egham, close to Central London, has an excellent research profile (rated 6th in the latest Research Excellence Framework) and benefits from state-of-the-art research facilities (e.g. MRI, TMS, EEG, cognitive behavioural testing suites, Babylab). Data collection and regular meetings will take place at the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), which houses a unique combination of state-of-the-art facilities and world-leading expertise, with 4 human MRI systems (2 x Siemens Prisma, 1 x Siemens Connectom, 1 x Siemens 7T), MEG, EEG, TMS, tDCS, clinical research units and testing labs. Further details of CUBRIC can be found on their webpage (http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/cubric).

Please quote the reference: 0921-345

Closing Date: Midnight, 1st November 2021

Interview Date: TBC

Furtherdetails: JobDescription PersonSpecification

Originally posted here:
Research Fellow, Imaging/Cognitive Neuroscience job with ROYAL HOLLOWAY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON | 268065 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Neuroscience

A Collection of Essays Considers Resonance in the Arts – Columbia University

Q. What is artistic resonance, and how does the concept create pathways between artistic forms and/or academic fields?

A. In my search for the most basic task of the theater experience, I came to understand that it is resonance that matters most. Our job as theater artists is to create the conditions in which resonanceliterally, vibrationcan happen between actors and the audiences bodies, minds, and senses. As I studied the phenomena of resonance, I realized that, in fact, all the arts are only as successful as the resonance that they generate with those on the receiving end.

Q. What are you most looking forward to seeing during New York's fall cultural season? Will you attend live theater?

A. I am trepidatious about being in packed rooms, but I shall tread carefully back to live performance. I am finished with Zoom performances. I am looking forward to Bill T. Jones production ofDeep Blue Seaat the Park Avenue Armory. Also,Pass OverandDana H.andIs This a Roomon Broadway.

Q. What is the last great book you read, and why?

A. I am currently enjoying Louis MenandsThe Free World. Also,The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brainby Annie Murphy Paul was a complete revelation this summer and a delightful book of highly readable neuroscience.

Q. What's on your night table to read next?

A. I am reading a great deal about the poets in Russia who were highly influential prior to the Russian Revolution. These include Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Alexander Blok, Osip Mandelstam, Sergei Yesenin, Velimir Khlebnikov, and Vladimir Mayakovsky. This delicious reading is research for a project that I am directing entitledBeautiful Lady, a musical by Elizabeth Swados and Paul Schmitt.

Q. What are you teaching this semester?

A. I am teaching four classes:Directing 1 is essentially a composition class in which first-year directing students produce one short play per week.For the second-year directing students, I am co-teaching Collaboration 2 with David Henry Hwang and Christian Parker. I am also teaching a Visiting Artists course in which illustrious theater professionals come to our class each week. And along with Brian Kulick, I am co-teaching a class with New York University design professors in which our directing students work with NYU set, lighting, and costume designer students.

Q. You're hosting a dinner party. Which three scholars or academics, dead or alive, would you invite, and why?

A. bell hooks, Steven Pinker, and Oliver Sacks. What would happen then?

Check out Booksto learn more about publicationsby Columbia professors.

Read more:
A Collection of Essays Considers Resonance in the Arts - Columbia University

Neuroscience

Researchers aim to understand COVID-19 in children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities – URMC

Researchers at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester are working to better understand how COVID-19 impacts student and staff in schools that serve students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The $4 million project, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP), will allow researchers to work with students and staff at the Mary Cariola Center School in Rochester, to study how COVID-19 spreads in the vulnerable population the agency serves.

Understanding how to best test this population and how COVID spreads in group settings is imperative to keeping those with an IDD safe, John Foxe, Ph.D., Director of the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, and co-principal investigator of the study. Ultimately, this study will have major implications for schools across the United States and specifically for schools that serve vulnerable students. This funding continues a well-establish collaboration with Mary Cariola Center and will help keep their population, many of which are too young to be vaccinated, safe from COVID.

John Foxe, Ph.D., announces study at Mary Cariola Center during press conference.

Foxe is one of three principal investigators leading this study. Martin Zand, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of Clinical & Translational Science Institute and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Research at the Medical Center, and Stephen Dewhurst, Ph.D., Vice Dean for Research at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, are also principal investigators.

According to the NIH, a non-vaccinated person with intellectual and developmental disabilities is four-times more likely to contract COVID-19 and eight-times more likely to die from the virus than someone without an IDD. It is also a population that is difficult to test with effective procedures. This study will allow researchers to rapidly identify initial infections, antigen levels, and through isolating and contact-tracing, stop the spread of infection in school settings.

COVID-19 poses a considerable threat to our students who have intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as medical complexities, said Karen Zandi, LCSW-R, President/CEO of Mary Cariola Center. This partnership will provide crucial insight into this deadly virus and will allow us to update, revise, and create best practices beyond what we are currently doing. Ultimately, it means we will be able to keep our students and staff healthy and provide peace-of-mind to their families, while providing important research data to help schools in general and other schools like ours.

Individuals living with intellectual developmental disabilities remain disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we cannot leave them behind as we build toward our recovery, said Rep. Joe Morelle. With this study, we will be able to better combat the virus and deliver the outcomes IDD individuals across our nation and their families deserve. Thank you to the Mary Cariola Center and the University of Rochester for the incredible work you have already completed in this space and will continue to do to uplift our entire community.

In addition to researchers testing on all three Mary Cariola School campuses, they will also utilize a dedicated vehicle to travel between the school and students' homes to test and track anyone who tests positive.

Last spring, the NIH designated the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience as one of 16 Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers in the county.

Continued here:
Researchers aim to understand COVID-19 in children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities - URMC

Neuroscience

$12.2 million to fund new Conte Center to study neurosteroids Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – Washington University School of…

Visit the News Hub

Complements efforts of Taylor Family Institute to develop treatments for psychiatric illness

Steven Mennerick, PhD, works in his laboratory, where he studies neurosteroids and their potential as antidepressants. The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis a $12.2 million grant to create a center aimed at advancing research into neurosteroids as treatments for depression and other psychiatric disorders.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has awarded Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis a five-year, $12.2 million grant to create a center aimed at advancing research into neurosteroids as treatments for depression and other psychiatric disorders.

The new Silvio O. Conte Center for Basic Neuroscience Research will be one of only 15 Conte Centers currently funded by the NIMH, of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The centers research focus complements work performed at Washington Universitys Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research, where scientists have focused since 2013 on the potential of neuroactive steroids to be used to treat psychiatric problems.

Psychiatric illnesses are a major cause of death and disability in the United States and around the world. Research by scientists at the Taylor Family Institute has added to the understanding of changes in the brain that underlie these disorders. Those researchers also have been involved in developing new treatments using neuroactive steroids.

In addition to tapping psychiatrists, neuroscientists, anesthesiologists and chemists at the School of Medicine, the new Conte Center also will involve researchers at Tufts University, Duke University and the University of Colorado. The overall goal is to identify pathways and receptors in the brain that interact with neuroactive steroids. The idea is that those proteins and receptors then might become treatment targets for new psychiatric drugs developed from neurosteroids.

This will be a discovery-based Conte Center, and we hope to leverage our catalogue of synthetic neurosteroids one of the largest in the world to find more effective treatments for depression and other psychiatric problems, said Steven Mennerick, PhD, co-director of the new center and the John P. Feighner Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University. Our center will unite and coordinate the efforts of internationally recognized investigators with expertise in the biology and chemistry of neurosteroids, as well as expertise in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

The center is organized around three main projects. Alex S. Evers, MD, the Henry E. Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology, is the principal investigator of a project that aims to identify the cellular proteins targeted by neurosteroids and to characterize the structures of those binding sites.

The second project directed by Mennerick and Charles F. Zorumski, MD, the Samuel B. Guze Professor and head of the Department of Psychiatry will involve testing a prototype antidepressant neurosteroid to help determine what role various types of cellular receptors play as neurosteroids provide antidepressant effects in the brain.

The third project led by Jamie Maguire, PhD, a professor of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine will test the compounds found most effective in the first two projects in animals that exhibit behaviors similar to what would be diagnosed as clinical depression in a person.

We believe there will be a synergy between our efforts to study and develop new treatments at the Taylor Family Institute and our work at the new Conte Center to identify the receptors and pathways through which neurosteroids exert their effect in the brain, said Zorumski, who is a co-director of the new center and director of the Taylor Family Institute. We want to learn which neurosteroids might be most effective as treatments and which receptors those compounds target.

One neuroactive steroid has had some early success treating depression. In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration approved brexanalone as a treatment for postpartum depression; however, the drug can cause significant sleepiness, and it must be delivered via intravenous infusions. The hope is that new treatments will have fewer side effects and be easier to use.

Our work at the Taylor Family Institute and the new Conte Center reflects the unique partnership weve developed in recent years between anesthesiology and psychiatry, Evers said. The drug ketamine is a perfect example. Its best known as an anesthetic, but we now know it also is useful as an antidepressant. Like ketamine, neurosteroids got their start as anesthetics.

Researchers at the Conte Center will have the opportunity to study the effects of hundreds of synthetic neurosteroids developed by Douglas Covey, PhD, the Andrew C. and Barbara B. Taylor Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry. A medicinal chemist, Covey has created a large catalogue of potential candidate compounds.

This work is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Grant number P50 MH122379

Washington University School of Medicines 1,700 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, consistently ranking among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

Go here to see the original:
$12.2 million to fund new Conte Center to study neurosteroids Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis - Washington University School of...

Neuroscience

Virus-Based Technique Could Enhance Maps of the Brain – Technology Networks

Virginia Tech scientists have improved upon a key method to map the zebrafish brain -- an advance that could improve understanding of how the human brain functions.

A wiring diagram of the brain would be a powerful tool to understand diseases of connectivity, said Yuchin Albert Pan, the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund Eminent Research Scholar in Developmental Neuroscience at theFralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. Autism spectrum disorder, for example, is characterized by a loss of long-distance connections and increase in local connections. Most neuropsychiatric disorders have connectivity aspects.

Although human brains are more complex, zebrafish brains share a common architecture as do all vertebrates. Determining the structure and function of cells called neurons and how they connect within the brain and between the brain and other structures such as the eye could provide clues to more precisely treat neurological diseases and eye injuries.

In a study in todaysFrontiers in Neuroanatomy, the scientists reported an improved, viral-based technique to trace brain connections between neurons in zebrafish using vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which labels cells as it spreads across the synaptic connections between neurons that are functionally wired together.

Until now, the use of viral vectors in zebrafish has been limited because the viruses, such as rabies or adeno-associated virus, often used by scientists to transfer molecules to cells in mammals, are not effective in fish.

To overcome this limitation,Virginia Tech scientiststried and validatedtheuseofVSV to trace connection patterns in neurons in zebrafish. The virus was engineered to label excitatory and inhibitory neurons that are connected via a nanoscopic structure called the synapse.

Before this study, the researchers had been successful with the approach, but the improved, second-generation version of the technique used a mutant version of VSV that was less toxic and longer-lived in the cells, making visualization of the connected neurons and the analysis of that connectivity possible up to five days after infection.

This is really exciting, because now we can not only record activity, but we also know something about the cell types involved, and how they connect, said co-lead author Manxiu Michelle Ma, a neurophysiologist and formerly a postdoctoral research associate in the Pan lab. The unique viral tracer benefits from reducedcytotoxicity, which enables the virus-infectedneurons to maintain their cellular integrity and express a fluorescentindicator to reveal neuronalactivity during visual stimulation. Furthermore, this technique can also define the neuron type,for example, if the neuron during a visual stimulus is an excitatory neuron or an inhibitory neuron.

Stanislav Kler, a virologist and co-lead author of the study who was also a postdoctoral research associate in the lab, said, The connectivity patterns between most neuronal types are mostly unknown. This gap in knowledge underscores the critical need for effective neural circuit mapping tools. This will get us a step closer to understanding how the brain stores and processes information and how we can manipulate these circuits for better health.

The research is especially significant for vision research.

To restore vision after diseases or injury that affect the eye itself including the cells in the eye that project to structures deep within the brain for subsequent processing of the visual world, the eye needs to connect to the right places in the brain, said Pan, who is a member of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institutes Center for Neurobiology Research. The small size and translucency of larval zebrafish are a unique experimental system to investigate whole brain neural circuits. Scientists working on vision regeneration can now look at whether there is functional connectivity.

Reference: Kler S, Ma M, Narayan S, Ahrens MB, Pan YA. Cre-Dependent Anterograde Transsynaptic Labeling and Functional Imaging in Zebrafish Using VSV With Reduced Cytotoxicity. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 2021;15:71. doi:10.3389/fnana.2021.758350

This article has been republished from materials provided by Virginia Tech. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

See original here:
Virus-Based Technique Could Enhance Maps of the Brain - Technology Networks

Physiology

Dr. Ardem Patapoutian awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – Armenian Weekly

(Photo: Office of the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs)

Lebanese-Armenian scientist Ardem Patapoutian is one of the two winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for touch, heat and bodily movement.

Dr. Patapoutian, a professor of neuroscience at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, discovered a new class of sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli in the skin and internal organs.

He was honored alongside David Julius, a UC San Francisco professor of physiology, who identified a sensor in the nerve endings of the skin that responds to heat.

Our ability to sense heat, cold and touch is essential for survival and underpins our interaction with the world around us, the Nobel Assembly wrote in a statement announcing the accolades. The laureates identified critical missing links in our understanding of the complex interplay between our senses and the environment.

Dr. Julius and his team used a key ingredient of chili peppers to identify the gene that makes skin cells capsaicin sensitive. This discovery was a major breakthrough that led the way for scientists to find additional temperature-sensing receptors.

Dr. Patapoutian and his team used a micropipette to poke individual cells and find the sensors that respond to mechanical stimuli such as touch and pressure. In further research, these sensory channels have been shown to regulate physiological processes including blood pressure, respiration and urinary bladder control.

In 1944, Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Gasser received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the different types of sensory nerve fibers that react to distinct stimuli, such as painful touch. While scientists have since proven that people perceive changes in their surroundings through highly specialized neurons, a key question long remained unanswered: how are temperature and mechanical stimuli converted into electrical impulses in the nervous system?

This really unlocks one of the secrets of nature, secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly Thomas Perlmann said in announcing the winners. Its actually something that is crucial for our survival, so its a very important and profound discovery.

The pairs findings also have astonishing medical implications, as they are already being used to develop treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, such as chronic back pain, arthritis and migraines.

Dr. Patapoutian said that his phone was on do not disturb when he received the call from Perlmann, who eventually reached his 92-year-old fathers landline. He then called his son at around 2:30AM California time to deliver the news.

Shortly after, the committee released a photo of a delighted Dr. Patapoutian watching the Nobel Prize press conference from his bed with his son Luca: A day to be thankful, tweeted Dr. Patapoutian. This country gave me a chance with a great education and support for basic research.

Dr. Patapoutian, who was born to an Armenian family in Beirut, Lebanon in 1967, came to the United States in 1986. I fell in love with doing basic research. That changed the trajectory of my career, he said in an interview with the New York Times. In Lebanon, I didnt even know about scientists as a career.

The Nobel Prize laureates will each receive a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.14 million).

Lillian Avedian is a staff writer for the Armenian Weekly. Her writing has also been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Hetq and the Daily Californian. She is pursuing masters degrees in Journalism and Near Eastern Studies at New York University. A human rights journalist and feminist poet, Lillian's first poetry collection Journey to Tatev was released with Girls on Key Press in spring of 2021.

More here:
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Armenian Weekly

Physiology

Explained | The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – The Hindu

Does the knowledge of nerve impulses which can perceive temperature and pressure when initiated help to treat pain?

The story so far: The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was jointly awarded to David Julius, 66, at the University of California, San Francisco, and Ardem Patapoutian, 54, at Scripps Research, La Jolla, California, for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.

Editorial | Sensing heat: On 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

What is the significance of their work?

The two researchers discovered the molecular mechanism by which our body senses temperature and touch. Being able to do this opens the field for a lot of practical chemistry whereby individual cells and pathways can be tweaked, suppressed or activated to quell pain or sensation. How the body senses external stimuli is among the oldest excursions of natural philosophy. Entire schools of philosophy were based on speculating how the senses influenced the nature of the reality we perceive. Only when physiology developed as an independent discipline and anatomy came into its own did it become widely accepted that specific sensations were the result of different categories of nerves getting stimulated. Thus, a caress or a punch induces cells in our bodies to react differently and convert into specific patterns of electrical stimulation that is then conveyed via the nerves to the central nervous system. Since the Nobel Prizes came to be, at least three of them were for establishing key principles for how sensations travelled along skin and muscle sensory nerve fibres. Much like the length, thickness, material and incident force on their strings elicit specific tones out of a guitar or a piano, there are specific nerve fibre types that in tandem create a response to touch, heat and proprioception, or the sense of our bodys movement and position in space. However, the prominence of molecular biology means that physiology wanted to go a level deeper and find out what specific proteins and which genes are responsible in this symphony of the nerves.

What is the contribution of David Julius towards this?

Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide), the active component of chili peppers, generates the burning sensation when eating spicy food. Studies on capsaicin showed that when it acted on sensory nerves it induced ionic currents, or the gush of charged particles along a membrane. In the late 1990s, Professor Julius pursued a project to identify a nerve receptor for capsaicin. He thought that understanding the action of capsaicin could provide insights into how the body sensed pain. He and his team went about this by looking for a gene that could induce a response to capsaicin in cells that usually wouldnt react to it. They found one in a novel ion channel protein, later called TRPV1, where TRP stands for transient receptor potential, and VR1 is vanilloid receptor1. They were part of a super family of TRP and it was found that TRPV1 was activated when temperatures were greater than 40 degrees Celsius, which is close to the bodys pain threshold. Several other TRP channels were found, and this ion channel could be activated by various chemical substances, as well as by cold and heat in a way that differs between mammalian species.

What did Ardem Patapoutian find?

Growing up in Beirut as an Armenian, during the Lebanese Civil War, Patapoutian has related stories of being captured by militants at university, before he moved to the United States. Patapoutian and his colleagues were working on how pressure and force affected cells. Following an approach similar to that of Professor Julius, they identified 72 potential genes that could encode an ion channel receptor and trigger sensitivity to mechanical force, and it emerged that one of them coded for a novel ion channel protein, called Piezo1. Via Piezo1, a second gene was discovered and named Piezo2. Sensory neurons were found to express high levels of Piezo2 and further studies firmly established that Piezo1 and Piezo2 are ion channels that are directly activated by the exertion of pressure on cell membranes. The breakthrough by Professor Patapoutian led to a series of papers from his and other groups, demonstrating that the Piezo2 ion channel is essential for the sense of touch. Moreover, Piezo2 was shown to play a key role in proprioception as well as regulate blood pressure, respiration and urinary bladder control. Independently of one another, Professor Julius and Professor Patapoutian used the chemical substance menthol to identify TRPM8, a receptor activated by cold.

What applications do these discoveries have?

Along with the discoveries of specific genes, proteins and pathways, the scientists pioneered experimental methods that allow insight into the structure of these pain and temperature sensors. The challenge for pain relieving drugs is to precisely target regions without causing imbalance in other necessary functions. These scientists work, the Nobel Prize committee said, significantly helped towards reaching that goal.

See the original post here:
Explained | The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - The Hindu