Spinal cord injuries can result in a range of physical disabilities from slight loss of motor function to major paralysis, but little is known about the mechanisms underlying the damage. Scientists affiliated with the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami are gaining knowledge about how the nervous system responds to spinal cord injuries. Their latest study, published last month in the...
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What does it take to survive that tumultuous time called adolescence? Good friends, exercise, and new brain cells. Scientists at Michigan State University found evidence of neurogenesis in the brains of adolescent hamsters, according to a study published last month in PNAS. The new cells, which became integrated into neural circuits in adulthood, were discovered in the amygdala and connected limbic regions – areas associated with...
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The importance of studying the brain in three dimentions is something we understand at MBF Bioscience. Every day scientists around the world use our products to reconstruct neurons and analyze brain cells in 3D. That's why we're excited to hear about the new possibilities for whole brain analysis coming out of Dr. Karl Deisseroth's lab at Stanford University. A press release issued last week describes a...
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There's a lot to be said for being in the right place at the right time. For a neuron, emerging at a certain place within the brain destines it for a particular function. A new study posits that, for a group of cells in the hippocampus, it's not only where a neuron is born, but also when it is born, that defines the specific roles...
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Microscopes and glass slides are on their way to becoming obsolete in medical and science courses. MBF Bioscience just unveiled Biolucida Cloud 2.0, software that simulates the experience of using a light microscope, complete with the ability to focus through specimens. This software enables educators to integrate virtual slides — high-resolution digital images of specimens mounted on glass slides — into their course materials and tests. Thanks to...
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A stroke patient is rushed to the hospital. Deprived of oxygen-rich blood, brain cells have already died, and more damage will probably occur in the hours and days to come. But researchers at the University of South Florida and the University of Padova in Italy say a two-part package administered through the body, rather than directly into the brain, may be the key to staving...
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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="189"] Overall view of the computer microscope developed by Drs. van der Loos and Glaser (circa 1965).[/caption] Prior to the computer microscope era, quantitative neuro-anatomical studies were performed using the camera lucida method, an optical method allowing the scientist to see the neurons as if reflected on the piece of paper on which she will trace. These studies were painstaking and extremely time-consuming....
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A monkey spots a mango and part of its brain lights up. The action takes place in the inferior temporal cortex, part of the brain that's essential to object recognition. Using retrograde tracing and anatomical imaging, scientists at the National Institute of Neuroscience, and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan identified two interwoven, yet distinct, systems within the region's complex circuitry. “Our anatomical findings provide evidence...
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WormLab is already contributing to a variety of research projects from the study of neurodegeneration at Johns Hopkins, to research on neural circuit function at UMass, neurotransmitter transporters at Vanderbilt University, and explorations into how the brain controls growth and fat metabolism at the University of Nevada, Reno. Why? WormLab is intuitive, fast, and yields an astounding amount of data very quickly. Try it with your...
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Revving engines, blasting sirens, the drummer next door. Despite the myriad sensory stimuli going on around us at any given moment, humans have the ability to stay focused on the task at hand. This skill is due to a part of the brain known as the neocortex, a six-layer structure whose intricate wiring is largely a mystery. But researchers at the University of Virginia just...
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