Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute – Change perception, change your world | Chen Institute

Every region has its place in the brain. However, it has been unclear why brain regions are located where they are. Now, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) and the Forschungszentrum Jülich have defined two main axes along which brain regions are genetically organized, stretching from posterior […]

How many “listeners” a nerve cell has in the brain is strictly regulated. This is shown by an international study led by the University College London and the universities of Bonn, Bordeaux and Milton Keynes (England). In the environment of learning neurons, certain processes are set in motion that make signal transmission less exclusive. The […]

A new study into the causes of sensorimotor impairments prevalent among autistic people could pave the way for better treatment and management in the future, say psychologists. Publishing findings in the leading journal BRAIN [today: Friday 25 September], the scientists from the universities of Exeter and Bath present fresh evidence that sensorimotor difficulties associated with […]

Our aging brains collect tangles and sticky plaques that can interfere in our cognition and memory. But some older adults with this neuropathology have more cognitive resilience than others, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found that the PLCG2-P522R genetic variant, which protects against Alzheimer’s disease, enhances several key functions of immune cells. The results obtained in the study highlight the importance of immune cells as a target of future development of new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.

The mature brain is infamously bad at repairing itself following damage like that caused by trauma or strokes, or from degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Stem cells, which are endlessly adaptable, have offered the promise of better neural repair. But the brain’s precisely tuned complexity has stymied the development of clinical treatments.

A new study implicates 160 genes in brain shrinkage seen on MRIs of 45,000 healthy adults. The shrinkage is in the cortex, the dimply outer layer of the brain that gives rise to thinking, awareness and action, and largely consists of gray matter.

New research from Penn State College of Medicine may help health care professionals understand which patients who report insomnia are at increased risk for developing dementia. Middle-aged adults who report symptoms on insomnia and sleep less than six hours of asleep a night may be at increased risk of cognitive impairment.