Cell Biology

GT Gain Therapeutics SA Announces Funding from the Swiss Innovation Agency Supporting a 3-year Research Collaboration Project with the Institute for…

- Researchers will further develop the Site-directed Enzyme Enhancement Therapy (SEE-Tx) technology for the treatment of rare genetic and neurodegenerative diseases

- The collaborative agreement unites resources from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB)-USI; Neurocentro -Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC) & GT GAIN Therapeutics, SA

LUGANO, Switzerland, Dec. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GT Gain Therapeutics SA (Gain), a subsidiary of Gain Therapeutics, Inc.,a biotechnology company focused on redefining drug discovery by identifying and optimizing allosteric binding sites that have never before been targeted, along with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB, affiliated to USI Universit della Svizzera Italiana) and the Neurocentro announced today that Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency, has agreed to support the CHF 1.5M project by funding approximately CHF 850,000 to leverage these world class research organizations and promote continued innovation in the area of CNS diseases. The remaining support will come from Gain to cover the cost of related headcount expenses being dedicated to the project. The award specifically supports further investigation of the mechanisms of action of Gains proprietary STAR small molecule therapeutic candidates on lysosomal dysfunction and prion-like transmission of toxic forms of protein aggregates associated with neurodegenerative diseases.

Being recognized as an Innosuisse funded innovation project reinforces the support for our innovative approach and unites us with scientists and researchers as passionate as we are to discover new therapeutic approaches using our SEE-Tx target identification platform, said Manolo Bellotto, Ph.D., President and General Manager of Gain. The specific know-how in protein quality control by Prof. Molinari at the IRB and the expertise in neurosciences of Dr. Paganetti from Neurocentro will certainly contribute to a further understanding of the mechanism of action of our molecules in rare and genetic diseases, thus accelerating their development towards the clinic.

Dr.Maurizio Molinari, group leader of the Protein Folding and Quality Control research team from the IRB added, We are honored to be collaborating with the Gain team and to evaluate Gains novel therapeutic candidates as we work to advance new, innovative treatment options for rare lysosomal disorders and neurodegenerative diseases for which there are currently few treatment options. We are grateful to the Swiss Innovation Agency for their support and look forward to initiating this critical research program.

About Gain Therapeutics, Inc.

Gain Therapeutics, Inc. is redefining drug discovery with its SEE-Tx target identification platform. By identifying and optimizing allosteric binding sites that have never before been targeted, Gain is unlocking new treatment options for difficult-to-treat disorders characterized by protein misfolding. Gain was originally established in 2017 with the support of its founders and institutional investors such as TiVenture, 3B Future Health Fund (formerly known as Helsinn Investment Fund) and VitaTech. It has been awarded funding support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research (MJFF) and The Silverstein Foundation for Parkinsons with GBA, as well as from the Eurostars-2 joint program with co-funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and Innosuisse. In July 2020, Gain Therapeutics, Inc. completed a share exchange with GT Gain Therapeutics SA., a Swiss corporation, whereby GT Gain Therapeutics SA became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gain Therapeutics, Inc. For more information, visit https://www.gaintherapeutics.com/

About the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB)

The Institute for Research in Biomedicine was founded in 2000 with the clear and ambitious goal of advancing the study of human immunology, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms of host defense. The activities of the 13 research groups now extend beyond immunology to include the fields of DNA repair, rare diseases, structural and cell biology. Located in Bellinzona, capital of the Italian-speaking Canton of Ticino, the IRB is an affiliated institute of the USI Faculty of Biomedical Sciences. For more information, visit : http://www.irb.usi.ch

About Neurocentro -Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EOC)

The EOC multisite hospital is organized and managed as a modern company at the service of the patient. It has structures with clear segregations of functions and flexible management systems that foster innovation, accountability and simplification.Our approach favors a collegial and participatory management style. General management and hospital directors form the EOC Management Coordination Conference, physicians are directly involved in EOC management through the Clinical Coordination Conference. The other professional categories actively participate in the management of the EOC within inter-hospital groups.For more information, visit http://www.eoc.ch/en/Centri-specialistici/NSI/NSI.html

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this release that are not historical facts may be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on managements current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially and adversely from the statements contained herein. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Gain Therapeutics, Inc. (Gain) expected use of the proceeds from the Series B financing round; the market opportunity for Gains product candidates; and the business strategies and development plans of Gain. Some of the potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those predicted include Gains ability to: make commercially available its products and technologies in a timely manner or at all; enter into other strategic alliances, including arrangements for the development and distribution of its products; obtain intellectual property protection for its assets; accurately estimate its expenses and cash burn and raise additional funds when necessary. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by law, Gain does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they are made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Gain Therapeutics Investor Contact:Daniel FerryLifeSci Advisors+1 617-430-7576daniel@lifesciadvisors.com

Gain Therapeutics Media Contact:Cait Williamson, Ph.D.LifeSci Communications+1 646-751-4366cait@lifescicomms.com

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GT Gain Therapeutics SA Announces Funding from the Swiss Innovation Agency Supporting a 3-year Research Collaboration Project with the Institute for...

Neuroscience

Purdue researchers uncover blind spots at the intersection of AI and neuroscience – Purdue News Service

Findings debunk dozens of prominent published papers claiming to read minds with EEG

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Is it possible to read a persons mind by analyzing the electric signals from the brain? The answer may be much more complex than most people think.

Purdue University researchers working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience say a prominent dataset used to try to answer this question is confounded, and therefore many eye-popping findings that were based on this dataset and received high-profile recognition are false after all.

The Purdue team performed extensive tests over more than one year on the dataset, which looked at the brain activity of individuals taking part in a study where they looked at a series of images. Each individual wore a cap with dozens of electrodes while they viewed the images.

The Purdue teams work is published in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. The team received funding from the National Science Foundation.

This measurement technique, known as electroencephalography or EEG, can provide information about brain activity that could, in principle, be used to read minds, said Jeffrey Mark Siskind, professor of electrical and computer engineering in Purdues College of Engineering. The problem is that they used EEG in a way that the dataset itself was contaminated. The study was conducted without randomizing the order of images, so the researchers were able to tell what image was being seen just by reading the timing and order information contained in EEG, instead of solving the real problem of decoding visual perception from the brain waves.

The Purdue researchers originally began questioning the dataset when they could not obtain similar outcomes from their own tests. Thats when they started analyzing the previous results and determined that a lack of randomization contaminated the dataset.

This is one of the challenges of working in cross-disciplinary research areas, said Hari Bharadwaj, an assistant professor with a joint appointment in Purdues College of Engineering and College of Health and Human Sciences. Important scientific questions often demand cross-disciplinary work. The catch is that, sometimes, researchers trained in one field are not aware of the common pitfalls that can occur when applying their ideas to another. In this case, the prior work seems to have suffered from a disconnect between AI/machine-learning scientists, and pitfalls that are well-known to neuroscientists.

The Purdue team reviewed publications that used the dataset for tasks such as object classification, transfer learning and generation of images depicting human perception and thought using brain-derived representations measured through electroencephalograms (EEGs)

The question of whether someone can read another persons mind through electric brain activity is very valid, said Ronnie Wilbur, a professor with a joint appointment in Purdues College of Health and Human Sciences and College of Liberal Arts. Our research shows that a better approach is needed.

Siskind is a well-known Purdue innovator and has worked on multiple patented technologies with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. For more information on licensing and other opportunities with Purdue technologies, contact OTC at otcip@prf.org.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In fiscal year 2020, the office reported 148 deals finalized with 225 technologies signed, 408 disclosures received and 180 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

Writer: Chris Adam, cladam@prf.orgSources: Jeffrey Siskind, qobi@purdue.edu

Hari Bharadwaj, hbharadw@purdue.edu

Ronnie Wilbur, wilbur@purdue.edu

ABSTRACT

The Perils and Pitfalls of Block Design for EEG Classification Experiments

Ren Li, Jared S. Johansen, Hamad Ahmed, Thomas V. Ilyevsky, Ronnie B. Wilbur, Hari M. Bharadwaj and Jeffrey Mark Siskind

A recent paper claims to classify brain processing evoked in subjects watching ImageNet stimuli as measured with EEG and to employ a representation derived from this processing to construct a novel object classifier. That paper, together with a series of subsequent papers, claims to achieve successful results on a wide variety of computer-vision tasks, including object classification, transfer learning, and generation of images depicting human perception and thought using brain-derived representations measured through EEG. Our novel experiments and analyses demonstrate that their results crucially depend on the block design that they employ, where all stimuli of a given class are presented together, and fail with a rapid-event design, where stimuli of different classes are randomly intermixed. The block design leads to classification of arbitrary brain states based on block-level temporal correlations that are known to exist in all EEG data, rather than stimulus-related activity. Because every trial in their test sets comes from the same block as many trials in the corresponding training sets, their block design thus leads to classifying arbitrary temporal artifacts of the data instead of stimulus-related activity. This invalidates all subsequent analyses performed on this data in multiple published papers and calls into question all of the reported results. We further show that a novel object classifier constructed with a random codebook performs as well as or better than a novel object classifier constructed with the representation extracted from EEG data, suggesting that the performance of their classifier constructed with a representation extracted from EEG data does not benefit from the brain-derived representation. Together, our results illustrate the far-reaching implications of the temporal autocorrelations that exist in all neuroimaging data for classification experiments. Further, our results calibrate the underlying difficulty of the tasks involved and caution against overly optimistic, but incorrect, claims to the contrary.

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Purdue researchers uncover blind spots at the intersection of AI and neuroscience - Purdue News Service

Neuroscience

Dont Make Your Brain Dumb: The Neuroscience Of Success – Forbes

What makes a person successful?

Having a growth mindset? Being a visionary? Being born into the right family?

These may help, but a healthy brain is foundational. Without it, success is going to be far harder to come by. So what is a healthy brain, a successful brain? Its one that has high blood flow and high activity.

TheAmen Clinics perform brain imaging calledsingle photon emission computed tomography(SPECT), which assesses at blood flow and activity patterns in the brain. Since 1991, they have performed over 135,000 brain SPECT scans on patients from 120 countries. The data from SPECT teaches us the four crucial aspects of a persons brain-based success.

Daniel Amen

Here are the 4 crucial aspects of ensuring your brain stays strong, and doesnt dumb down:

1) Protect your prefrontal cortex (PFC).Youve heard me talk about this key region of the brain before. Its behind your forehead and it governs the development of your personality as well as complex behaviors. In humans, it accounts for 30% of the brains volume. Thats a lot. Cats weigh in at 3%, dogs at 7%, chimpanzees at 11% of their brains volume. The PFC is involved with executive functions, such as strategy, visioning the future, planning, focus, judgment, impulse control, and empathy. Its your internal CEO. Low PFC activity = bad decision making. Thats why protecting it is crucial. In astudyAmen published they found that 91% of traumatic brain injuries involve the PFC.

Preventing brain injuries is easy (phew!):

Daniel Amen

2) Protect your brains pleasure centers.The nucleus accumbens (NA), in both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, are involved in pleasure and motivation. Youll remember blogs Ive written about the neurotransmitter dopamine. Well the NA is lit up by the dopamine your brain releases from sex, chocolate, video games, cocaine, stimulants like coffee, high fat and high sugar foods, and fame. Most of us are familiar with the connection between dopamine and addiction, which weve been seeing with excessive video gaming for many years now. Not to bum your high, but intense pleasure actually results in substantial drops in your levels of dopamine. When repeated over time (like with heroin addiction, for instance) the NA becomes less responsive, which leads to needing more of these behaviors. Thats how addiction happens, be it to chocolate or methamphetamines.

Protect your pleasure centers by:

3) You can make your brain better.Amen Clinics is well-known for running the first and largest brain imaging and rehabilitationstudyon active and retired NFL players. Needless to say, they witnessed high levels of brain damage players, many of which had been hit in the head thousands of times. They were thrilledand surprisedto see that 80% of the players showed improvement in as little as two months on their Memory Rescue program. Since most of us have (thankfully) not been repeatedly hit in the head, there is hope for all of us to have better brainsand better lives.

The Net-Net

How does a person become successful? Thats a long answer. For starters, you can stack the deck in your favor by having a healthy brain!

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Dont Make Your Brain Dumb: The Neuroscience Of Success - Forbes

Neuroscience

Has Neuroscience Proved that the Mind Is Just the Brain? – Discovery Institute

Photo credit: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR , via Wikimedia Commons.

Last month, materialist neurologistSteven Novella(at Yale University School of Medicine) made a ratherastonishing claimin a post at hisNeurologica blog:A recent open-accessstudyof learning and decision-making in mice shows that the human mind is merely what the human brain does. Thats a lot for mice to prove.

In the study, the mice were trained to choose holes from which food is provided. Their brain activity was measured as they learned and decided which holes were best. The research looks specifically at quick and intuitive decision-making vs. decision-making that is slower and involves analysis of the situation. The investigators found that analysis-based decisions in the mice involve brain activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is a region of the brain in the fissure between the hemispheres.

From the standpoint of understanding the mind-brain relationship, this study is unremarkable. There is no doubt that thinking usually involves brain activity of some sort. Dualists (who think that the human mind uses the brain but is not identical with it) and materialists (who think that the mind is just what the brain does) have no disagreement here. This study details the correlative brain activity in mice, which is nice to know. But Dr. Novella takes this mundane study and draws a ludicrous conclusion:

I also feel obligated to point out that research like this completely destroys any notion of dualism that mental function exists somehow outside of or separate from the biological functioning of the brain. So far, the neuroscience hypothesis, that mental function is brain function, is working quite well. The brain is a complex biological computer, and we can figure out how it works by studying it. Even the most sophisticated cognitive processes, such as analytical decision-making, are demonstrably happening in the brain. Further, not only is there zero evidence for the dualist hypothesis, it is completely unnecessary, which is a fate in science even worse than being wrong.

Nonsense. Novella has been trying to sell his materialist ideology in the guise of neuroscience for more than a decade. This is only the most recent in a host of his bizarre claims, including his 2008assertionthat The materialist hypothesis that the brain causes consciousness has made a number of predictions, and every single prediction has been validated.

Thats a beautiful example of theDunning-Kruger effect(people overestimate their mastery of a situation they dont understand). In neuroscience, materialism is the answer only if you dont understand the questions.

Read the rest at Mind Matters, published by Discovery Institutes Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence.

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Has Neuroscience Proved that the Mind Is Just the Brain? - Discovery Institute

Neuroscience

Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market (2020-2026) | Where Should Participant Focus To Gain Maximum ROI | Exclusive Report By PMI – LionLowdown

The data presented in the global Neuroscience antibodies and assays market report is a compilation of data identified and collected from various sources. The scope of growth of the Neuroscience antibodies and assays market during the forecast period is identified after analyzing different data sources. The report is a valuable guidance tool that can be used to increase the market share or to develop new products that can revolutionize the market growth. The analysis of the collected data also helps in providing an overview of the Neuroscience antibodies and assays industry which further helps people make an informed choice. Latent growth factors that can manifest themselves during the forecast period are identified as they are key to the Neuroscience antibodies and assays market growth. The Neuroscience antibodies and assays report presents the data from the year 2020 to the year 2027 during the base period while forecasting the same during the forecast period for the year 2020 to the year 2027.

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Thermo Fisher Scientific, Abcam, Bio-Rad, Merck KGAA, Cell Signaling Technology, Genscript, Rockland Immunochemicals. Bio Legend, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Tecan, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Siemens.

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Neuroscience antibodies and assays Market (2020-2026) | Where Should Participant Focus To Gain Maximum ROI | Exclusive Report By PMI - LionLowdown

Neuroscience

Decorating for the Holidays? Doctors Share Tips on How to Avoid a Trip to the ER. – Baptist Health South Florida

Here in South Florida and around the country, emergency departments see a notable increase in falls, back strains and other injuries during the holidays. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, injuries sustained while decorating account for some 15,000 trips a year to the ER.

Resource spoke recently with two experts from Miami Neuroscience Institute, a part of Baptist Health South Florida:

Jose Andres Restrepo, M.D., medical director for outpatient rehabilitation, specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, electrodiagnosis, regenerative medicine and musculoskeletal conditions including arthritis.

Raul A. Vasquez-Castellanos, M.D., neurosurgeon and director of complex spine surgery, specializing in the surgical treatment of complex spinal conditions including tumors, degenerative spine diseases, spinal deformities, scoliosis, kyphoscoliosis and neurotrauma.

We asked Drs. Restrepo and Vasquez for their thoughts on how you can prevent the most common holiday injuries and avoid the ER this holiday season.

Resource: In general, regardless of the season, what are the most common types of injuries you treat in your practice?

Dr. Vasquez: We see a lot of people who come in with nerve impingement, herniated disk, disk degeneration, chronic back pain, and simple spine fractures. Most of these result from falls or lifting heavy things. But I think it also has something to do with the fact that we live in an area with an aging population, at a time when people are living longer. As we age, our flexibility, balance and reaction times all start diminishing. We need to be mindful of our body and what its actually capable of doing.

Resource: What kind of injuries are you seeing now, as people decorate for the holidays?

Dr. Restrepo: So far this holiday season, weve seen a 10 to 15 percent increase in patients with back injuries. Most of these have been a result of decorating ones home for the holidays moving heavy furniture and boxes, falling off ladders and performing various other activities required for the job. Weve had patients complaining of everything from neck pain from looking up for long periods; back pain from bending over and lifting; hand and wrist pain from grappling with hammers, screwdrivers and other tools; ankle sprains from falling off ladders; knee sprains from awkward rotation of the knee, and bursitis of the knee from kneeling on hard surfaces for too long.

One patient came in with a back sprain and lacerations on his back. He was on a ladder stringing holiday lights along the eaves of his house, unspooling the lights he had wrapped around himself as he worked his way along the eaves. At some point he slipped and fell into the bushes below but, fortunately, his fall was broken somewhat by the lights he had wrapped around himself and the ones he had just strung around the chimney. Otherwise, his injuries might have been much worse.

Resource: Are you seeing anything different this year with holiday injuries because of the pandemic?

Dr. Vasquez: We are. What is common now, it seems especially with this second surge were seeing now is people are injuring themselves at home but reluctant to go to the ER because theyre concerned about exposure to the coronavirus. I can tell you that our facilities are perhaps the cleanest, safest spaces anywhere far more so than your local grocery store. Remember that delaying care is aggravating an existing injury. By not seeking treatment, you could possibly wind up with permanent weakness and long-term, chronic back pain. Is that a chance you want to take?

Resource: Dr. Vasquez, what recommendations do you have for avoiding injuries during the holidays?

Dr. Vasquez:

Resource: And Dr. Restrepo, what about youwhat advice can you offer that would help people avoid the ER during the holidays?

Dr. Restrepo:

Resource: If somebody is injured, should they go to Urgent Care or the ER?

Dr. Vasquez: If you suffer an acute injury from a fall, such as a broken back or broken arm, Baptist Health has Urgent Care and Urgent Care Express locations across South Florida, some of which are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We also have a couple of freestanding emergency departments in West Coral Way and West Kendall, and of course, there are on-campus ERs at all of our hospitals across the region. Serious back injuries requiring specialized care will be referred to our team here at Miami Neuroscience Institute. If you need us, were here 24/7 to help care for you.

Tags: ankle sprain, back pain, back sprain, Dr. Jose Andres Restrepo, Dr. Raul Vasquez-Castellanos, holiday decorating injuries, holiday decorating safety tips, Miami Neuroscience Institute

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Decorating for the Holidays? Doctors Share Tips on How to Avoid a Trip to the ER. - Baptist Health South Florida

Neuroscience

Bill Yates Appointed Vice Chancellor for Research Protections – UPJ Athletics

Bill Yates has been appointed vice chancellor for research protections, where he will lead the units in the Office of Research Protections (ORP) which aids investigators in designing and performing research studies so they meet current ethical standards and conform to all applicable laws and regulations. His appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2021.

ORP supports key research-related committees at the University, including the Institutional Review Board, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Conflict of Interest Committee, Radiation Safety Committee and Institutional Biosafety Committee, and also is responsible for oversight of research integrity.

Bill brings a strong sense of practical experience in research, and a commitment to provide service to the research community, said Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob A. Rutenbar.

I am delighted to continue to serve the University in this new role, said Yates. He has been serving in the role on an interim basis since September 2020, when George Huber retired from the position.

Yates also is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology in Pitts School of Medicine, and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Neuroscience in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. He has been awarded continuous R01 grant funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1990 to examine vestibular system influences on autonomic regulation. In addition, he is heavily engaged in teaching of undergraduate, graduate and medical students, and was awarded the Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010.

Yates joined Pittin 1994 from The Rockefeller University in New York City. He received a Ph.D. degree in neuroscience from the University of Florida in 1986.

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Bill Yates Appointed Vice Chancellor for Research Protections - UPJ Athletics

Neuroscience

Scientists show what loneliness looks like in the brain – Newswise

Newswise This holiday season will be a lonely one for many people as social distancing due to COVID-19 continues, and it is important to understand how isolation affects our health. A new study shows a sort of signature in the brains of lonely people that make them distinct in fundamental ways, based on variations in the volume of different brain regions as well as based on how those regions communicate with one another across brain networks.

A team of researchers examined the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, genetics and psychological self-assessments of approximately 40,000 middle-aged and older adults who volunteered to have their information included in the UK Biobank: an open-access database available to health scientists around the world. They then compared the MRI data of participants who reported often feeling lonely with those who did not.

The researchers found several differences in the brains of lonely people. These brain manifestations were centred on what is called the default network: a set of brain regions involved in inner thoughts such as reminiscing, future planning, imagining and thinking about others. Researchers found the default networks of lonely people were more strongly wired together and surprisingly, their grey matter volume in regions of the default network was greater. Loneliness also correlated with differences in the fornix: a bundle of nerve fibres that carries signals from the hippocampus to the default network. In lonely people, the structure of this fibre tract was better preserved.

We use the default network when remembering the past, envisioning the future or thinking about a hypothetical present. The fact the structure and function of this network is positively associated with loneliness may be because lonely people are more likely to use imagination, memories of the past or hopes for the future to overcome their social isolation.

"In the absence of desired social experiences, lonely individuals may be biased towards internally-directed thoughts such as reminiscing or imagining social experiences. We know these cognitive abilities are mediated by the default network brain regions," says Nathan Spreng from The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) of McGill University, and the study's lead author. "So this heightened focus on self-reflection, and possibly imagined social experiences, would naturally engage the memory-based functions of the default network."

Loneliness is increasingly being recognized as a major health problem, and previous studies have shown older people who experience loneliness have a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Understanding how loneliness manifests itself in the brain could be key to preventing neurological disease and developing better treatments.

"We are just beginning to understand the impact of loneliness on the brain. Expanding our knowledge in this area will help us to better appreciate the urgency of reducing loneliness in today's society," says Danilo Bzdok, a researcher at The Neuro and the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, and the study's senior author.

###

This study was published in the journal Nature Communications on Dec. 15, 2020. It was partially funded by a grant to Spreng and Bzdok from the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

The Neuro

The Neuro - The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital - is a world-leading destination for brain research and advanced patient care. Since its founding in 1934 by renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield, The Neuro has grown to be the largest specialized neuroscience research and clinical center in Canada, and one of the largest in the world. The seamless integration of research, patient care, and training of the world's top minds make The Neuro uniquely positioned to have a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of nervous system disorders. In 2016, The Neuro became the first institute in the world to fully embrace the Open Science philosophy, creating the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute. The Montreal Neurological Institute is a McGill University research and teaching institute. The Montreal Neurological Hospital is part of the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. For more information, please visithttp://www.theneuro.ca

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Scientists show what loneliness looks like in the brain - Newswise

Neuroscience

FLiCRE: A New Tool for Revealing the Brain in Action – Technology Networks

A new molecular probe from Stanford University could help reveal how our brains think and remember. This tool, called Fast Light and Calcium-Regulated Expression or FLiCRE (pronounced "flicker"), can be sent inside any cell to perform a variety of research tasks, including tagging, recording and controlling cellular functions.

"This work gets at a central goal of neuroscience: How do you find the system of neurons that underlie a thought or cognitive process? Neuroscientists have been wanting this type of tool for a long time," said Alice Ting, professor of genetics in the Stanford School of Medicine and of biology in the School of Humanities and sciences, whose team co-led this work with the lab of Stanford psychiatrist and bioengineer, Karl Deisseroth.

In proof-of-concept experiments, detailed in a paper published Dec. 11 in Cell, the researchers used FLiCRE to take a snapshot of neural activity associated with avoidance behavior in mice. By coupling the FLiCRE snapshot with RNA sequencing, they discovered that these activated neurons primarily belonged to a single cell type, which was inaccessible using genetic tools alone. They then used FLiCRE in combination with an opsin - a protein for controlling neural activity with light developed by Deisseroth - to reactivate those same neurons a day later, which led the mice to avoid entering a certain room. The brain region the researchers studied, called the nucleus accumbens, is thought to play an important role in human psychiatric diseases, including depression.

Modular molecular technology

FLiCRE is made up of two chains of molecular components that respond to the presence of blue light and calcium. This light sensitivity allows the researchers to precisely control the timing of their experiments, and calcium is an almost-universal indicator of cell activity. To get FLiCRE inside a cell, the researchers package it, in two parts, within a harmless virus. One part of FLiCRE attaches to the cell membrane and contains a protein that can enter the cell's nucleus and drive expression of whatever gene the researchers have selected. The other part of FLiCRE is responsible for freeing the protein under certain specific conditions, namely if the concentration of calcium is high and the cell is bathed in blue light.

Whereas existing tagging techniques require hours to activate, the FLiCRE tagging process takes just minutes. The researchers also designed FLiCRE so that they can use standard genetic sequencing to find the cells in which FLiCRE activated. This allows them to study tens of thousands of cells at once, while other techniques tend to require the analysis of multiple microscopic images that each contain hundreds of cells.

In one series of experiments, the researchers injected FLiCRE into cells in the nucleus accumbens and used an opsin to activate a neural pathway associated with avoidance behavior in the mice. Once the calcium in FLiCRE-containing cells spiked - the cellular indication that the mouse is avoiding something - the cells glowed a permanent red that was visible through a microscope. The researchers also sequenced the RNA of the cells to see which ones contained the fluorescent protein, producing a cell-by-cell record of neural activity.

"One goal was to map how brain regions are connected to each other in living animals, which is a really hard problem," said Christina Kim, a postdoctoral scholar in genetics at Stanford and co-lead author of the paper. "The beauty of FLiCRE is that we can pulse and activate neurons in one region and then record all of the connected downstream neurons. It is a really cool way to look at long-range brain activity connections."

In the next experiments, the researchers used the cellular activity map from the first experiments. They also adjusted FLiCRE so that the protein expressed the opsin protein, which can be controlled by orange light to alter neuronal activity. After activating FLiCRE in the cells, the researchers sent orange light through the fiber optic implant whenever the mice would enter a certain room. In response, the mice steered clear of that room, indicating that FLiCRE had indeed located cells in the brain that drive avoidant behavior.

A dream project

The development and testing of FLiCRE combined chemistry, genetics, biology and neuroscience, and many specialties within those disciplines. As a result, the tool has a wide range of possible applications, including in cells outside the brain, the researchers say.

"I moved to Stanford in 2016 with the hope of being able to carry out extremely interdisciplinary and collaborative projects such as this," said Ting. "This project has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my move to Stanford - seeing something this challenging and ambitious actually work out."

The researchers are now working on additional versions of FLiCRE, with a goal of streamlining the process. They are hoping to simplify its structure and also make it capable of working with other biochemical events, such as protein interactions or neurotransmitter release.

Reference: Kim CK, Sanchez MI, Hoerbelt P, et al.A Molecular Calcium Integrator Reveals a Striatal Cell Type Driving Aversion. Cell. 2020. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.11.015

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

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Neuroscience

Cerevel Therapeutics to Host Inaugural Virtual R&D Event – GlobeNewswire

Event will focus on CVL-865, the Phase 2 GABA Positive Allosteric Modulator, and include an overview of key preclinical programs

Live webcast scheduled for Thursday, January 28 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. EST

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerevel Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CERE), a company dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the brain totreatneurosciencediseases, announced it will host the first in a series of virtual R&D events on Thursday, January 28 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. EST. Hosted as a live webcast, Cerevel will lead an in-depth discussion of CVL-865, its Phase 2 GABA positive allosteric modulator (GABA PAM) as well as provide an overview of leading preclinical / early clinical assets. Subsequent R&D events dedicated to additional portfolio programs will be announced at a future time.

CVL-865 is currently being studied in two clinical trials, including the Phase 2 REALIZE trial evaluating the compound as an adjunctive therapy in adults with drug-resistant focal onset seizures, and a Phase 1 proof-of-principle trial for acute anxiety in healthy volunteers. Data from the REALIZE trial are expected in the second half of 2022 and data from the Phase 1 trial for acute anxiety are expected in the second half of 2021. This event is intended to provide a detailed look at the science behind the current clinical program, with time for questions.

The live webcast can be accessed on the investor relations section of the Cerevel Therapeutics website here. A replay will be available in the same section of the companys website for approximately 90 days.

About CVL-865CVL-865 is a subtype selective positive allosteric modulator (PAM) that targets GABAA receptors containing 2/3/5 subunits. It is structurally differentiated from classical benzodiazepines and minimizes activity at 1-containing receptors, which is believed to help mitigate many of the adverse events associated with benzodiazepines. To date, CVL-865 has been evaluated in 289 patients and healthy volunteers across nine clinical trials, with results showing it to be generally well-tolerated. A Phase 2 single-dose trial demonstrated robust anticonvulsant activity in patients with photosensitive epilepsy (a type of epilepsy in which seizures are triggered by flashing lights), with six of seven patients treated with CVL-865 experiencing complete suppression of intermittent photic stimulation (IPS), a characteristic epileptiform discharge shown on electroencephalograms (EEGs). For more information about the Phase 2 clinical trial, please visit https://realizestudy.com.

About Cerevel TherapeuticsCerevel Therapeutics is dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the brain to treat neuroscience diseases. The company is tackling neuroscience diseases with a differentiated approach that combines expertise in neurocircuitry with a focus on receptor selectivity. Cerevel Therapeutics has a diversified pipeline comprising five clinical-stage investigational therapies and several preclinical compounds with the potential to treat a range of neuroscience diseases, including schizophrenia, epilepsy, Parkinsons disease and substance use disorder. Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Cerevel Therapeutics is advancing its current research and development programs while exploring new modalities through internal research efforts, external collaborations or potential acquisitions. For more information, visit http://www.cerevel.com.

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on managements beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: may, will, could, would, should, expect, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, predict, project, potential, continue, ongoing or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this press release, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about the potential attributes and benefits of our product candidates, the format and timing of our product development activities and clinical trials, including the expected timing of data announcements. We cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this press release will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, if the forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those projected or suggested in the forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including, among others: that clinical trial results may not be favorable; uncertainties inherent in the product development process (including with respect to the timing of results and whether such results will be predictive of future results); the impact of COVID-19 on the timing, progress and results of ongoing or planned clinical trials; other impacts of COVID-19, including operational disruptions or delays or to our ability to raise additional capital; whether and when, if at all, our product candidates will receive approval from the FDA or other regulatory authorities, and for which, if any, indications; competition from other biotechnology companies; uncertainties regarding intellectual property protection; and other risks identified in our SEC filings, including those under the heading Risk Factors in our definitive proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC on October 7, 2020. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Media Contact:Rachel EidesW2O purereides@purecommunications.com

Investor Contact:Matthew CalistriCerevel Therapeuticsmatthew.calistri@cerevel.com

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Cerevel Therapeutics to Host Inaugural Virtual R&D Event - GlobeNewswire