How the brain works and how the brain is affected by disease are mysteries in large part because neurons are so dynamic, numerous, and complex. Neurolucida 360, a revolutionary, new software product from MBF Bioscience, enables neuroscientists to uncover more information about neurons at a faster rate. “Neurolucida 360 is a technological revolution” says Jack Glaser, President of MBF Bioscience. “It is the state-of-the-art tool for neuroscientists to analyze...
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[caption id="attachment_6094" align="alignright" width="231"] Micrograph of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert. Image from Wikipedia.[/caption] Cholinergic neurons degenerate at devastating rates in Alzheimer's disease, but Dr. Mark Tuszynski and his team at the University of California, San Diego may have found a way to slow the decline. Their study, published in JAMA Neurology, reports that nerve growth factor gene therapy increased the size, axonal sprouting, and signaling of cholinergic neurons...
Read MoreDr. Jose Maldonado, Head of MBF Bioscience Latin America and Africa, and Dr. Abraham A.A. Osinubi, Associate Professor, University of Lagos will be hosting a stereology workshop at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria on Sept 16 - 18. The workshop will cover the basics of stereology and how to practically apply it to scientific research. This is a unique opportunity for attendees to learn from two expert stereologists. Anyone interested in stereology...
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[video width="978" height="720" mp4="https://www.mbfbioscience.com//wp-content/uploads/2015/08/worms1.mp4"][/video] Explosions can tear apart buildings, send shrapnel flying, and hurtle humans into the air. But explosions also cause damage in ways that aren't as visually apparent. Scientists say the force of a blast can cause brain damage, but questions linger about how the symptoms that emerge after a blast-induced traumatic brain injury are connected to the initial trauma. In their quest to learn more...
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[caption id="attachment_5991" align="aligncenter" width="632"] Dr. Paul Manger's new system developed by MBF Bioscience for analyzing large mammalian brain specimens[/caption] Dr. Paul Manger, Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, studies the brain anatomy of various animals to better understand the relationship between brain structure and function. Some of the mammals he studies have very large brains that don't fit under a conventional research...
Read MoreRecent headlines decry the alarming amount of irreproducible data in published research papers. MBF Bioscience is hosting a symposium addressing the topic on Sunday, October 18 at 6:30pm entitled "Quantitative Microscopy: Enhancing the Reproducibility of Your Research Results with Stereology." This symposium, which is a satellite event at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting, will address how researchers can use stereology to obtain accurate, reproducible data about...
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During pregnancy, the uterus grows to accommodate the increasing size of the fetus within. Makes sense. But what is it exactly that compels the uterus to get bigger? If you said pregnancy hormones, you're right. And if you said the growing fetus, stretching the uterine walls, you're right too. Researchers attribute the growth of the uterus during pregnancy to both hormones and mechanical stretch (the fetus...
Read MoreWho: Clara R. Thore, Ph.D., Computer Imaging Specialist Where she works: The Microvascular Research Lab, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine , Winston-Salem, North Carolina Research focus: Microvascular changes in the brain in diseases of aging, such as vascular dementia, leukoaraiosis, and Alzheimer's disease. MBF Bioscience software used: Stereo Investigator Research methods at a glance: Dr. Thore and her fellow researchers have come a long...
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What would you do with a neuron if you could activate its synapses in any combination you wanted? Tiago Branco, Beverley A. Clark and Michael Hauser created a chance to do just that (Branco, 2010). The authors, using in-vitro brain slices containing layer II/III pyramidal cells in visual or somatosensory cortex of rats, were able to excite identified spines in any order and with whatever...
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You could have the best hearing aids on the market, but if there is damage to the central auditory system, you're still not going to hear. Comprised of a sophisticated network that includes the auditory cortex and the inferior colliculi, the central auditory system is the part of the brain responsible for processing sound. Scientists at the Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León and...
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