Gene therapy is a powerful developing technology that has the potential to address myriad diseases. For example, Huntington’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, is caused by a mutation in a single gene, and if researchers could go into specific cells and correct that defect, theoretically those cells could regain normal function.   A major challenge, however, […]

Organs—like the heart, brain, and kidneys—are complex structures made up of a combination of different cells that work cooperatively to perform specific functions. For example, around 70 distinct types of cells work together in the human eye to enable our visual perception. How do different types of cells evolve to cooperate like this?   An […]

The central nervous system (CNS) is mainly composed of neurons and glial cells. Neurons perform the function of transmitting and integrating neural signals, while glial cells play an important role in support and nutrition. Unlike peripheral tissues and organs, neurons in the central nervous system of mammals can hardly be regenerated after adulthood. In neurodegenerative […]

The human brain has 100 billion neurons, making 100 trillion connections. Understanding the precise circuits of brain cells that orchestrate all of our day-to-day behaviors—such as moving our limbs, responding to fear and other emotions, and so on—is an incredibly complex puzzle for neuroscientists. But now, fundamental questions about the neuroscience of behavior may be […]

A team of Caltech TCCI®-affiliated researchers including Viviana Gradinaru, professor of neuroscience and biological engineering and director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Sarkis Mazmanian, Luis B. and Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology and David Van Valen, assistant professor of biology and biological engineering and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator, among others, has […]

Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute (TCCI®) investigator Professor Huang Yanyan recently co-authored an article published in BMC Geriatrics, an international journal dedicated to geriatrics. Their study, supported by TCCI®, revealed a correlation between the amount and patterns of physical activity and depression among the elderly community in Shanghai.   This study aimed to identify the […]

Building a map of the complex human brain and its approximately 100 billion individual neurons is no easy task. As a precursor to tackling that monumental challenge, researchers have started off with something smaller and easier—the mouse brain—in order to understand different cell types and how they are connected, and also to perfect the technological […]

Research on human embryos is vital to understanding the earliest stages of human development. Currently, this research is conducted on surplus embryos willingly donated by individuals who have undergone in vitro fertilization however this means the research is limited by availability of embryos and strict international ethical time limits on how long an embryo is […]

Your commute to work may seem like a mundane thing, but it is a great example of the complicated tasks our brains must carry out on a daily basis: navigation, memory, decision-making, sensory processing, and so on. Researchers often use animal models, such as mice, to study the neural processes underlying these behaviors. However, many […]

Recently, Professor Yu Jintai, a researcher from the Neurology Department of Fudan University-affiliated Huashan Hospital and a Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute (TCCI®) Investigator and his team identified seven genes including the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene that can control the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease at various transcriptomic and expression levels by integrating genetics and proteomes […]