BrainBlog

From today's New York TImes : Atlas Squeaked: A Complete Map of the Brain of a Mouse By NICHOLAS WADE Published: September 26, 2006 The New York Times Scientists have gained a new window for peering into the brain, courtesy of a $41 million project financed by Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. The project is an electronic atlas that shows which genes are switched on in neurons throughout the brain of a mouse. Instead of looking at one gene at a time in one or a few neurons, researchers can now study all the brain genes systematically. And instead of having to visualize each gene experimentally, everything is available online. “I am using it all the time,” said Catherine Dulac, who studies mouse behavior at Harvard. “It’s an extraordinary resource.” Marc Tessier-Lavigne, an expert on neuronal signaling and vice president for research at Genentech, said he would put the new brain atlas “on a par with the human genome project.” Both are members of the scientific advisory...

Brinton RD & Wang JM (2006). Therapeutic potential of neurogenesis for prevention and recovery from Alzheimer's disease: allopregnanolone as a proof of concept neurogenic agent . Curr Alzheimer Res., 3(3), 185-190. Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology and Program in Neuroscience, Pharmaceutical Science Center, 1985 Zonal Avenue, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. A major challenge not yet addressed by current therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the regeneration of lost neurons and neural circuitry to restore cognitive function. Therapies that lead to cessation of the degenerative process still leave the brain riddled with deteriorated neural circuits and reduced neuron number. The discovery of neurogenesis in the adult brain and the regenerative potential of neural stem cells holds the promise for restoration of neural populations and regeneration of neural circuits necessary for cerebral function. While the...

From today's Philadelphia Inquirer : Penn psychiatrist to be honored today Aaron T. Beck will receive the prestigious Lasker Award for his pioneering work in cognitive therapy. By Josh Goldstein Inquirer Staff Writer 17 September 2006 In the 1960s, University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck began to develop the theories and practice of a new branch of psychoanalysis known as cognitive therapy. Beck's more than 40 years of pioneering work at Penn is being honored today with the prestigious Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. The Lasker awards are given annually for "stunning" achievements in basic and clinical research in medicine. The awards are often likened to Nobel Prizes and come with a $100,000 honorarium. Cognitive therapy, which treats mental problems including depression, anxiety disorders and phobias, is based on the premise that thoughts, feelings and actions are interwoven. Patients are taught to identify their negative, sometimes ...

Pavlik VN, Doody RS, Massman PJ, & Chan W. (2006). Influence of premorbid IQ and education on progression of Alzheimer's Disease. Dementia, Geriatrics, & Cognitive Disorders, 22(4), 367-377. [Epub ahead of print] Department of Family and Community Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Tex., USA. Background: Lower education is associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Years of education and measures of general intellectual function (IQ) are highly correlated. It is important to determine whether there is a relationship between education and AD outcomes that is independent of IQ. Objective: To test the hypothesis that premorbid IQ is a stronger predictor of cognitive decline, global progression, and overall survival, than education in patients with AD. Methods: The study included 478 probable AD patients (322 women and 156 men, mean age 74.5 years) followed in a large AD referral center for a mean of 3.2 years. Eligible participants...

From an NIH press release from earlier today: NIH Launches Knockout Mouse Project Genome-Wide Public Resource Will Provide New Mouse Models for Understanding Human Disease The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a set of cooperative agreements, totaling up to $52 million over five years, to launch the Knockout Mouse Project. The goal of this program is to build a comprehensive and publicly available resource of knockout mutations in the mouse genome. The knockout mice produced from this resource will be extremely useful for the study of human disease. The NIH Knockout Mouse Project will work closely with other large-scale efforts to produce knockouts that are underway in Canada, called the North American Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Project (NorCOMM), and in Europe, called the European Conditional Mouse Mutagenesis Program (EUCOMM). The...

From The New York Times : Gene Found to Switch Off Stem Cells During Aging By NICHOLAS WADE Published: September 6, 2006 Biologists have uncovered a deep link between lifespan and cancer in the form of a gene that switches off stem cells as a person ages. The critical gene, already well known for its role in suppressing tumors, seems to mediate a profound balance between life and death. It weighs the generation of new replacement cells, required for continued life, against the risk of death from cancer, which is the inevitable outcome of letting cells divide. To offset the increasing risk of cancer as a person ages, the gene gradually reduces the ability of stem cells to proliferate. The new finding, reported by three groups of researchers online Wednesday in Nature , was made in a special breed of mice that lack the pivotal gene, but is thought likely to apply to people as well. The finding indicates that many of the degenerative diseases of aging are caused by an active shut...