Posts Tagged ‘neuroscience’

University Nets Huge Grant to Analyze World’s Largest Collection of Brain Scans

 :: Posted by American Biotechnologist on 10-15-2014

In a rare distinction for one university, neuroimaging world leaders and USC Professors Arthur Toga and Paul Thompson will receive two major research center awards to advance their exploration of the human brain.

Toga and Thompson each will establish a Center of Excellence under a National Institutes of Health initiative to mine discoveries from the vast and exponentially growing amounts of data created by imaging science, genetic sequencing and many other biomedical fields.

The awards total $12 million and $11 million for Toga and Thompson, respectively, over four years. NIH is funding several Centers of Excellence, including the two at USC, under its Big Data to Knowledge initiative.

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A Neural Portrait of the Human Mind

 :: Posted by American Biotechnologist on 10-06-2014

Watch this very cool video to find out how researcher Nancy Kanwischer used MRI techniques to identify the region of the brain that is responsible for facial recognition. It took years of research and a tremendous amount of self sacrifice, but the results are incredible.

Much-needed tool for neuroscience emerges after years of work

 :: Posted by American Biotechnologist on 04-24-2014

Nearly a decade ago, the era of optogenetics was ushered in with the development of channelrhodopsins, light-activated ion channels that can, with the flick of a switch, instantaneously turn on neurons in which they are genetically expressed. What has lagged behind, however, is the ability to use light to inactivate neurons with an equal level of reliability and efficiency. Now, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) scientists have used an analysis of channelrhodopsin’s molecular structure to guide a series of genetic mutations to the ion channel that grant the power to silence neurons with an unprecedented level of control.

The new structurally engineered channel at last gives neuroscientists the tools to both activate and inactivate neurons in deep brain structures using dim pulses of externally projected light. Deisseroth and his colleagues published their findings April 25, 2014 in the journal Science. “We’re excited about this increased light sensitivity of inhibition in part because we think it will greatly enhance work in large-brained organisms like rats and primates,” he says.

First discovered in unicellular green algae in 2002, channelrhodopsins function as photoreceptors that guide the microorganisms’ movements in response to light. In a landmark 2005 study, Deisseroth and his colleagues described a method for expressing the light-sensitive proteins in mouse neurons. By shining a pulse of blue light on those neurons, the researchers showed they could reliably induce the ion channel at channelrhodopsin’s core to open up, allowing positively charged ions to rush into the cell and trigger action potentials. Channelrhodopsins have since been used in hundreds of research projects investigating the neurobiology of everything from cell dynamics to cognitive functions.

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Directing the World With Your Imagination

 :: Posted by American Biotechnologist on 04-07-2014

A Map of the Brain

 :: Posted by American Biotechnologist on 02-26-2014