Brown research reveals key insight into memory-making
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- How information is stored in the nervous system, a key to memory and learning, is one of the hottest topics in neuroscience today. New research conducted at Brown University and Duke University Medical Center, published in the current issue of , fills in important details about cellular changes that occur when experience becomes memory....... This process is called long-term...Wrapping a memory with an experience, capacity for recollection detected in non-human species
(Boston) -- For millennia, the process of memory and remembering has intrigued scholars and scientists. In 350 B.C., Aristotle, in his seminal treatise on the subject, described it as having two forms: familiarity and recollection. Of these, he considered recollection to be a purely human condition. ... ...That tenet is now being challenged by researchers at Boston University. ...... Neurobio...Forgetting, reminding, and remembering: The retrieval of lost spatial memory
Most forms of memory loss are caused by some type of brain injury -- particularly to the hippocampus. Amnesia can arise from brain damage that interferes with memory storage, retrieval, or consolidation. What ultimately causes amnesia -- a failure to store memories or a failure to retrieve them -- is not clear.... ...A major challenge in resolving this question experimentally is being able to d...Emory researchers map structure of anti-cancer molecule
Scientists at Emory University, in collaboration with researchers at three national laboratories, have solved the structural puzzle of how an emerging class of promising cancer drugs work to halt cell division. The discovery potentially opens the door to the creation of more effective cancer treatments. ... ..."Uncovering and mapping the structure of this model system will assist scienti...Rutgers scientists discover protein in brain affects learning and memory
NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. Rutgers researchers have discovered what could be the newest target for drugs in the treatment of memory and learning disabilities as well as diseases such as Alzheimer's and fetal alcohol syndrome: a protein known as cypin....... Cypin is found throughout the body, but in the brain it regulates nerve cell or neuron branching. Branching or dendrite growth is an im...Scientists enhance fruit fly memory using mouse protein: New clue to fundamental brain mechanism
Researchers have found that they can enhance memory in fruit flies by boosting the level of a protein called PKM. The scientists could trigger memory enhancement in the flies by using either a fly or a mouse version of PKM. The study, published in the April issue of Nature Neuroscience, provides an important new clue about a fundamental mechanism of memory common to flies, humans, and most other...Hope Clinic of Emory Vaccine Center receives CDC contract
ATLANTA The Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center has received a contract of approximately $2.2 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct clinical trials of promising topical microbicides to prevent HIV. The phase I and II clinical trials, which will begin recruiting patients later this year, will be the first of their kind in Atlanta to evaluate the safety...Mutant mice lead to memory insights
Two strains of mutant mice with crippled versions of a key memory molecule have led researchers to an understanding of both normal memory function and the memory problems that plague sufferers of an inherited disorder. ...... The researchers said their findings suggest that drugs already being tested for cancer and Huntington's disease might be useful in restoring some memory capability to patien...Protein believed to control formation of memory identified by Scripps & UCSD scientists
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have demonstrated that the action of a protein called CBP is essential for the stabilization of long-term memory, a discovery that may help children with a rare but debilitating developmental disorder. ... ...They found that when the functions of normal CBP is suppressed in adult ro...Alzheimer's may leave some forms of memory intact
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have made the surprising discovery that people with Alzheimer's disease retain the capability for a specific form of memory used for rote learning of skills, even though their memories of people and events are extinguished.... ...The scientists' discovery suggests new strategies to improve training and rehabilitative programs that may...Memory fails you after severe stress
PEOPLE are woefully bad at recalling details of their own traumatic experiences. When military personnel were subjected to threatening behaviour during mock interrogations, most failed to identify the questioner a day or so later, and many even got the gender wrong. The finding casts serious doubt on the reliability of victim testimonies in cases involving psychological trauma. ...... Numerous s...Study in flies allows researchers to visualize formation of a memory
For the first time, researchers have used a technique called optical imaging to visualize changes in nerve connections when flies learn. These changes may be the beginning of a complex chain of events that leads to formation of lasting memories. The study was funded in part by the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and appears in the May 13, 2004, issue of Neu...Emory scientists receive NIH MIDAS grant for computer modeling of infectious diseases
Emory University scientists have received a five-year grant for more than $3 million to participate in a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative to develop powerful computer modeling techniques to analyze and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. The MIDAS study (Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study) will harness the nation's computing skills to enhance our ability to respond t...Brain signal predicts working memory prowess
Some people are better than others at remembering what they have just seen holding mental pictures in mind from moment to moment. An individual's capacity for such visual working memory can be predicted by his or her brainwaves, researchers funded by the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health have discovered....... A key brain electrical signal leveled off when the number of objects held in m...Lack of specific brain protein causes marked deficits in learning, memory
DALLAS April 7, 2004 A protein involved in the release of neurotransmitters in the brain is essential to learning and memory in mice, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.... ...A study published today in causes profound deficits in the learning process. The discovery is a major step in understanding the molecular events that underlie learning and memory comple...Scientists discover why not enough choline results in fewer brain cells, poorer memory
CHAPEL HILL Five years ago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers first reported finding that the nutrient choline played a critical role in memory and brain function by positively affecting the brain's physical development....... Differences in development influenced action, the scientists and their colleagues found. In animal experiments conducted at Duke University, both you...Flies offer clues to anesthesia-resistant memory
A fruit fly gene called radish, and the newly identified protein it encodes, have opened doors to understanding the genes and neuronal networks that govern a special type of memory, termed anesthesia-resistant memory. Researchers had previously known that for most animals -- not just humans -- loss of consciousness from anesthesia causes amnesia for recently experienced events. In contrast, for r...Genes influence memory in families with Alzheimer's disease
ST. PAUL, Minn. Genes play a strong role in how well our memory works, according to a study of families with more than one person with Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the February 10 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Located in DNA and RNA, a gene is a unit of inheritance that determines one or more traits.... ..."These results are ex...MIT team discovers memory mechanism
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT neuroscientists have discovered a new brain mechanism controlling the formation of lasting memories. This mechanism explains how signals between neurons stimulate production of the protein building blocks needed for long-term memory storage. ......The study, which will appear in the Feb. 6 issue of the journal ......Long-lasting memories are stored in the brain through s...Could memory performance and spatial learning be genetically based?
February 4, 2004 BETHESDA, MD As the US population ages, there is an increasing effort to understand the underlying mechanisms that contribute to learning and memory. This effort could be of critical importance to scientists trying to decipher how the molecular genetic mechanisms of learning and memory are disrupted or impaired. The results of a new study provide evidence that individual differ...'Mad cow' mechanism may be integral to storing memory
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Dec. 24, 2003) Scientists have discovered a new process for how memories might be stored, a finding that could help explain one of the least-understood activities of the brain. What's more, the key player in this process is a protein that acts just like a prion a class of proteins that includes the deadly agents involved in neurodegenerative conditions such as mad cow disease....Researchers identify key player in respiratory memory
MADISON - By studying the "memory" of the respiratory system, a group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified a key player - a protein called BDNF that's involved in learning - responsible for the body's ability to keep breathing properly, despite the challenges it may face. ......The findings, published Dec. 14 in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, could p...Emory researchers develop model to track the evolution of emerging infectious diseases
With outbreaks of new and frightening infectious diseases such as SARS and monkey pox jumping from the animal kingdom to humans, tracking their spread is vital to public health efforts to contain them. A novel mathematical model developed at Emory University now gives public health leaders another tool to assess the risk of new infectious disease emergence that emphasizes the potentially perilous...Emory scientists use enzymes to enhance regeneration of damaged peripheral nerves in mice
Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine were able to enhance significantly the re-growth of damaged peripheral nerves in mice by treating them with enzymes that counteracted a growth-blocking mechanism. The research offers the potential for improving functional recovery after peripheral nerve injuries. The Emory scientists were led by Arthur English, PhD, professor of cell biology, w...Estrogen improves short term memory and oral reading in midlife postmenopausal women
Midlife postmenopausal women who received daily treatment with estrogen showed improved oral reading and verbal memory performance, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the September issue of the journal Menopause. ... ..."This is the first study to specifically examine the effect of estrogen on reading ability," said principal investigator Sally Shaywitz, M.D., professor of pediatrics...Emory scientists track down immune sentinel cells with gene gun
ATLANTA--Dendritic cells monitor foreign substances in the body and communicate whether they present a danger to the rest of the immune system. Emory immunologists have developed a sensitive method to detect and follow dendritic cells by marking them with a change in their DNA, and have discovered that they are more numerous and longer lived than other scientists had previously observed. Their...New principle guides memory dynamics
Rehovot, Israel--August 21, 2003-- Is it possible to intentionally forget specific memories, without affecting other memories? Many would undoubtedly be happy to learn that unpleasant memories might be erased. This ability could be especially significant when it comes to the kind of traumatic memories that are debilitating to those experiencing them. It may well be that in the future, we will be...Emory researchers discover novel mechanism of how anthrax impairs immunity
ATLANTA In the first study of its kind, researchers led by Bali Pulendran, PhD, at the Emory Vaccine Center and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have shown that anthrax lethal factor (LF) impairs the function of dendritic cells and thereby compromises the immune system's ability to fight the microbe. The findings, which appear in the July 17 issue of Nature, have implications for deve...Emory scientists find anti-tumor compounds in magnolia cones
ATLANTA - The beloved southern magnolia, state flower of Louisiana and Mississippi, could provide more to cancer patients than shade and pretty flowers. A team of scientists at Emory University School of Medicine has discovered that seed cones from magnolia trees contain substances that inhibit the growth of new blood vessels. The active ingredient in the magnolia cones inhibited the growth of...Sleep deprivation within five hours of learning impairs memory consolidation in mice
PHILADELPHIA -- Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found new support for the age-old advice to "sleep on it." Mice allowed to sleep after being trained remembered what they had learned far better than those deprived of sleep for several hours afterward.... ...The researchers also determined that the five hours following learning are crucial for memory consolidation; mice deprived...Study links amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's brains to genes vital to normal memory
Tampa, FL (June 27, 2003) -- The buildup of Alzheimer's-associated amyloid plaques in the brain dramatically inhibits several genes critical to memory and learning, University of South Florida College of Medicine researchers have found.... ...The strong link between the decreases in select memory genes and amyloid accumulation was observed both in mice genetically engineered to develop memory los...Two synthetic antioxidants that may prove to be more powerful versions of those found in nature reversed age-related memory loss in mice, a University of Southern California study found.... ...Antioxidants, found in vitamins like A, C and E, are thought to help delay aging and prevent disease.... ...The experimental compounds were modeled after the enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase. They...Scientists close in on understanding learning and memory
For decades, scientists have proposed that learning occurs and memories are stored when connections among nerve cells are weakened or strengthened, but there's been no direct way to prove it. ... ...Now, a Johns Hopkins study using mouse cells reveals what seems to be the very last step that occurs as nerve cells temporarily weaken their connections. In the June 13 issue of Science, the Hopkins...Monkey's memory cells caught in the act of learning
NIH-funded scientists have detected direct evidence of individual brain cells signaling the formation of new memories. Neurons they call "changing cells" in the hippocampus, the brain's memory hub, emit telltale signals as a monkey learns an associative memory task, the researchers have discovered. While past studies established that new associative memories such as learning the name of a new ac...Emory's CancerQuest wins top Web award from Scientific American
CancerQuest, a Web site developed at Emory University devoted to giving cancer patients tools to learn practical, scientific knowledge about their illness, has received a 2003 Sci/Tech Web Award from , the online component of Scientific American magazine.... ...Scientific American editors reviewed more than 1,000 Web sites and selected the top 50 they deemed the most valuable science and technol...Emory University researchers uncover novel self-assembly of Alzheimer's amyloid fibrils
Researchers at Emory University and Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a new method to manipulate the self-assembly and formation of amyloid fibrils, a major component of brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease, thereby opening new avenues for examination of their formation and for the construction of robust nanotubes that have potential applications in research, industry and m...Memory for music: Musicians don't have to hear themselves perform after they learn a song
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Musicians who hear the music they are performing while learning a new piece have a better memory for the music later, a new study suggests....... But after they learn a song, actually hearing the music as they play... does not improve the accuracy of their performance....... These results shed new light on how......Diabetes therapies and liquid memory may develop from micro fluid research, Science researchers say
... ...Polymer solutions pulsing through miniaturized plumbing may control implanted drug delivery devices and provide memory for liquid computers, according to a new study.... ...The researchers created two small-scale fluid drive devices, one for flow control and the other for fluidic memory, that rely on the special behavior of polymer liquids to function. These findings are described in the...Pavlov's flies: Researchers identify fruit fly memory mutants
By teaching fruit flies to avoid an odor and isolating mutant flies that can't remember their lessons, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York have identified dozens of genes required ...for long-term memory.... ...In the same study, using DNA chip technology, the scientists identified another large group of candidate memory genes that are either switched on or off in the fly bra...An inability to quickly bring down high levels of sugar in the blood is associated with poor memory and may help explain some of the memory loss that occurs as we age, according to a new study by NYU School of Medicine researchers. The study raises the possibility that exercise and weight loss, which help control blood sugar levels, may be able to reverse some of the memory loss that accompanies...