Neuroscience News

Understanding how neural plasticity and pruning work together in brain development may help us address the problem of autism—and at the same time understand the very processes that work to create the absolute uniqueness of every human being.

A new study from researchers at the University of Chicago has found that neuronal population dynamics in the motor cortex are very different during reaching and grasping behavior, challenging a popular theory that indicated intrinsic, dynamic patterns control motor behaviors.

In the 1990s, he was among those who discovered the gene behind the disease. Today, Issam Awad, MD, leads the first accredited, and busiest, CA Center of Excellence in the U.S., and treats patients from all over the world. The next frontier: identifying biomarkers in blood tests that can tell which patient will bleed in their brain.

Proteins active in a neuron’s development can have powerful roles in its maintenance later: a “temporal modularity,” where proteins take on multiple roles at different times in a cell’s life.

Proactively increasing opportunities at the highest levels for women in science can unleash new reservoirs of human capital—and improve progress in many fields.

Can mice be effective models for autism? Maybe in some unexpected ways. As much as that sounds like a riddle, mice and humans are actually far more alike than you might think. In fact, many of the genes found in humans have functional counterparts in mice. For medical research, this similarity is very useful: scientists can use specific genetic variants of mice, known as models, to better understand human diseases and conditions.