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Cellular SOS: CRISPR Technique Reveals How Cell’s ‘Power Plants’ Activate Emergency Response
UC San Francisco researchers have finally identified the cellular circuit responsible for conveying stress signals from inside mitochondria to the integrated stress response, a discovery that may have important implications for treating the many debilitating diseases associated with mitochondrial stress.
Superfast Brain Circuit Slams the Brakes on Movement
A new UCSF study of patients with Parkinson’s disease has revealed a pathway that transmits signals very rapidly between two parts of the human brain to govern the complex act of halting a motion once it’s been initiated.
Scientists Unravel Mystery of Rare Genetic Disorder that Causes Intellectual Disability in Females
UCSF scientists have made a significant advance toward understanding a rare genetic condition, almost exclusively affecting females, that results in a broad spectrum of neurodevelopmental deficits.
Simple Blood Test May be Able to Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease
A simple blood test may soon be able to diagnose patients with two common forms of dementia – Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia – and tell the two apart.
Memory Concerns? Blood Test May Put Mind at Ease or Pave Way to Promising Treatments
A blood test that may eventually be done in a doctor’s office can swiftly reveal if a patient with memory issues has Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment and can also distinguish both conditions from frontotemporal dementia.
Long-Term Learning Requires New Nerve Insulation
For a conditioned response to become long-lasting requires brain cells to increase amounts of an insulating material called myelin, which may serve to reinforce and stabilize newly formed neural connections.
Brain Tumor Surgery that Pushes Boundaries Boosts Patients Survival
Survival may more than double for adults with glioblastoma, if neurosurgeons remove the surrounding tissue as aggressively as they remove the cancerous core of the tumor.
Brain’s ‘GPS System’ Toggles Between Present and Possible Future Paths in Real Time
In a study of rats navigating a simple maze, neuroscientists at UCSF have discovered how the brain may generate such imagined future scenarios. The work provides a new grounding for understanding not only how the brain makes decisions but also how imagination works more broadly, the researchers say.
Not ‘Brains in a Dish’: Cerebral Organoids Flunk Comparison to Developing Nervous System
Widely used organoid models fail to replicate even basic features of brain development and organization, much less the complex circuitry needed to model complex brain diseases or normal cognition.
The Case of the Elusive Infection
For 15 years, nobody could figure out what was making a young woman so sick. Then neurologist Michael Wilson, MD, tried a radical new test.
Brain Organoids Reveal Glioblastoma Origins
UCSF postdoctoral researcher for the first time succeeded in keeping a diverse array of glioblastomas alive in the lab using brain organoids
Can Technology Mend Our Broken Minds
Scientists have documented the influence of information overload on attention, perception, memory, decision-making, and emotional regulation. But the same technologies contributing to the cognition crisis could help solve it, argues neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley.
