16.01.2012
Sugar for the Brain
Oxygen and glucose are the food of our brain. If they are absent, such as during a stroke, nerve cells die. An international research team at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and McMaster University, Canada, has discovered a novel mechanism to prevent this cell death. The results of the study have now been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Read more … Sugar for the Brain
16.12.2011
When nerve cells stop speaking
By researching fruit flies, neuroscientists of the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence in Berlin were able to gain a better understanding of a meaningful mechanism of neuronal communication. They demonstrated the importance of a specific protein for signal transmission between nerve cells. This is of high significance as certain people with autism – a functional development disturbances of the brain – suffer from genetic defects in this protein. Therefore the findings could improve the possibility of treating this disease more effectively. The results are presented in the latest issue of the professional journal Science.
Read more … When nerve cells stop speaking
09.12.2011
Professor Michael Brecht receives Liebniz Prize 2012
Prof. Dr. Michael Brecht, member of the NeuroCure Board of Directors and Speaker of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, has received the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Liebniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG) 2012 worth 2.5 million euros. In a statement, the DFG explains: „The Leibniz Prize for Michael Brecht honours a scientist whose original research approaches and innovative methods have broken new ground in neurobiology.“
Read more … Professor Michael Brecht receives Liebniz Prize 2012
23.11.2011
Discovery of a new muscle repair gene
An international team of researchers from England and the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has presented new findings regarding the function of muscle stem cells, which are published in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics*. The researchers investigated several families with children suffering from a progressive muscle disease. Using a genetic analysis technique known as “next generation sequencing” the scientists identified a defective gene called MEGF10 responsible for the muscle weakness.
Read more … Discovery of a new muscle repair gene
07.11.2011
NeuroCure researchers awarded prestigious EU grant
Two researchers of the Cluster of Excellence NeuroCure at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie Berlin (FMP) have independently of one another received the renowned European Research Council (ERC) research award. Neurobiologists Prof. Gary Lewin (MDC) and Prof. Thomas Jentsch (MDC/FMP) will each receive an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros in research support.
Read more … NeuroCure researchers awarded prestigious EU grant
11.10.2011
New Findings Concerning Function of the Hippocampus
A research team from Berlin, Munich and Haifa has presented new findings concerning the function of the hippocampus, a region of the brain that is important for memory formation. The researchers investigated cellular mechanisms of high-frequency rhythms, which play a key role in memory processes, and possibly also in various brain disorders, albeit in a different manner.
Read more … New Findings Concerning Function of the Hippocampus
05.08.2011
Small molecules hit it big - new therapeutic approaches against viruses, bacteria, and cancer
Scientists from the Freie Universität Berlin and the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence led by biochemist Volker Haucke in collaboration with colleagues from Australia and the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) in Berlin have developed small molecules that inhibit the internalization of important signalling molecules but also of pathogenic organisms such as the immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and bacteria into cells. These compounds inhibit the function of the cellular scaffold protein clathrin und could thereby serve as a starting point for novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer, viral or bacterial infections or neurological disorders. These results were published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Cell.
Read more … Small molecules hit it big - new therapeutic approaches against viruses, bacteria, and cancer
02.08.2011
And fire! - How nerve cells are kept up to speed
Scientists from the Freie Universität Berlin and the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence led by Volker Haucke in collaboration with colleagues from the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) in Berlin have unravelled a mechanism involved in the reformation of neurotransmitter containing membrane vesicles in the brain. Perturbations of this reformation process because of mutations in key proteins such as CALM and AP180 are a possible cause for the development of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. These results were published in the latest online issue of the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Read more … And fire! - How nerve cells are kept up to speed
18.07.2011
New hope fighting immune diseases
A certain type of immune cells that assumes new functions in the intestine proves to be an effective aid in fighting autoimmune disorders. This discovery was made by researchers of the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, an institute of the Leibniz Association, the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence and the Yale University School of Medicine, and is presented in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature*.
Read more … New hope fighting immune diseases
08.07.2011
Another success in health research for Berlin
By establishing a new site for the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the scientists from Berlin have once again been suc-cessful in a nationwide competition with their research concept.
Read more … Another success in health research for Berlin
26.05.2011
Measuring the world by the brain – Scientists identify circuits with which rats map the environment
For the first time, researchers at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Bernstein Center Berlin and NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence explain how the cellular architecture of spatial memory is related to its role in orientation. In the journal Neuron, they present a new technique with which they could examine the activity and interconnection of individual neurons in freely moving animals. This method allowed them to identify the circuits with which rats capture and learn the spatial structure of their environment.
Read more … Measuring the world by the brain – Scientists identify circuits with which rats map the environment
25.03.2011
Berlin neuroscientists decode crucial component in brain signal processing
A team of neuroscientists from NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, have made a major breakthrough in understanding how signals are processed in the human brain. The paper, published in the current issue of the scientific journal Neuron, shows that a certain type of protein – the “vesicular glutamate transporter” (VGLUT) plays a crucial part in the strength regulation of synaptic connections. This regulation enables synapses to vary in strength.
Read more … Berlin neuroscientists decode crucial component in brain signal processing
