Urte Venclovaite shares new research from the lab of John Hanna that provides a model for how two molecules involved in proteasome control, Blm10 and PI31, might work together to create a fail-safe system to keep the cell’s protein recycling system in check. This basic research on how protein control works in healthy cells might ultimately provide insights that advance our understanding of why protein control fails in conditions such as neurodegenerative disease.

How do brains fold? By combining MRI scans, soft gel experiments, computer simulations, physics and mathematics, researchers from the lab of L. Mahadevan studied brain development and mistakes therein, using data from ferrets, macaques, and humans. Their work shows that a simple physical mechanism—faster growth of the cortex relative to deeper tissue—can explain both normal brain folding across species and in some developmental brain disorders.

What if every cell in your brain had its own unique genome that permanently records its history, its sibling cells, its age, the effects of disease, and its struggle for survival? How would that change the way we think about aging and degeneration in the brain? Christopher Walsh discusses these questions in light of two new studies from his lab and collaborating groups.