neurodegeneration

Topic description and stories

Zoomed-in super-resolution (dSTORM) images of the fibrils inside the neuron formed of exogenous ‘’seed’’ fibrils (green) elongated by endogenous α-synuclein (red)., Credit: Dorothea Pinotsi

Researchers identify when Parkinson’s proteins become toxic to brain cells

14 Mar 2016

Observation of the point at which proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease become toxic to brain cells could help identify how and why people...

Researchers identify ‘neurostatin’ that may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

12 Feb 2016

An approved anti-cancer drug successfully targets the first step in the toxic chain reaction that leads to Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that...

A growing axon tip exhibits polarised mRNA translation (red), Credit: K-M. Leung

̽��ֱ��amazing axon adventure

05 Feb 2016

How does the brain make connections, and how does it maintain them? Cambridge neuroscientists and mathematicians are using a variety of techniques to...

Growth cones of retinal axons (purple) growing among cells in the brain (green)

Neuroscience – from molecules to mind

02 Feb 2016

Today, we commence a month-long focus on neuroscience. To begin, Ed Bullmore, Bill Harris and Dervila Glynn describe how this area of research is...

Breaking the mould: Untangling the jelly-like properties of diseased proteins

29 Oct 2015

Scientists at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge have identified a new property of essential proteins which, when it malfunctions, can cause the build up...

Brain showing hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (cropped), Credit: ZEISS Microscopy

Cambridge's Chemistry of Health programme awarded £17 million in funding

25 Mar 2015

New funding will support fundamental research into the molecular processes underlying human disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases...

Detail of an atomic force microscopy image which shows amyloid fibrils of alpha-synuclein grown out of synthetic lipid vesicles

Protein threshold linked to Parkinson’s Disease

02 Feb 2015

Excess quantities of a specific protein in the brain dramatically increase the chances of so-called “nucleation events” that could eventually result...

Search and rescue: scientists identify a novel therapy with potential for treating Parkinson’s disease

22 Dec 2011

A collaboration between virologists and neuroscientists at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� has demonstrated how viruses that cross the blood/brain barrier could...

New hopes for the nervous system: multiple sclerosis

01 Jan 2009

Cambridge neurologists have shown that an antibody used to treat leukaemia also limits and repairs the damage in multiple sclerosis.

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