Neuro Topics - Synapses
SEARCH OTHER RESEARCH AREAS
May 9, 2024
New research uncovers how inflammation damages excitatory synapses in an experimental model of MS. While there is a constant turnover of synapses in the healthy brain, inflammation accelerates this turnover so that synapses were gained and lost at higher rates. This widespread instability impacts the entire neuron and leading to important changes in the incoming inputs to individual neurons.
Original article in: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity >
March 14, 2024
New research From Beth Stevens and colleagues, first author Dan Wilton, shows how the process of Huntington’s disease begins well before symptoms appear — and shows that in mice, the process can be blocked to prevent cognitive problems related to Huntington’s Disease.
Original article in: Nature Medicine >
February 3, 2022
Seul Ah Kim from the lab of Bernardo Sabatini shares a new method for studying multi-transmitting neurons (neurons which use more than one neurotransmitter) and explains new findings demonstrating that glutamate and GABA are co-packaged in individual synaptic vesicles in the central nervous system. This work highlights co-release of opposing transmitters leading to correlated excitatory and inhibitory signals in the lateral habenula, a brain region implicated in psychiatric disorders.
Original article in: Neuron >
January 21, 2022
HMS News Q+A with Jan Drugowitsch about his lab's research on how the brain processes information in order to make split-second decisions, the role of computation, and the importance of collaboration in unraveling the mysteries of decision-making.
Original article in: Neuron >
January 21, 2022
Harvard Gazette conversation with David Silbersweig on the neuroscience behind why certain songs get stuck in our heads more than others.
Original article in: Neuron >
May 6, 2021
Erin Johnson-Venkatesh and Hisashi Umemori share their work trying to understand why X-linked PCDH19-related disorder occurs only in females, and not males – when the opposite is typical for most disorders emanating from mutations on the X-chromosome. They find that inactivation of one copy of Pcdh19 results in a molecular mismatch at hippocampal synapses, leading to functional impairments in female, but not male mice.
Original article in: Science >
March 26, 2021
Jing Peng and Ivan Santiago share new research revealing a temporally precise transcriptional cascade that orchestrates the assembly of synaptic layers in the fly visual system. This story is a special piece honoring the memory of their mentor Matt Pecot, who sadly passed away in 2019, with words of remembrance in addition to the scientific update.
Original article in: PNAS >
January 28, 2021
Pint-Sized Science, a podcast of Science in the News, features HBI co-director Venkatesh Murthy. In an interview with graduate students Ana-Andreea Stoica (Columbia Univ) and Anastasia Repouliou (Harvard Univ), Murthy discusses our sense of smell—why it matters, how it works, and what are some of the big questions in olfaction research today.
Original article in: PNAS >
January 28, 2021
HMS News article on new research from the labs of Wei-Chung Allen Lee and colleagues, co-first authors Jasper Phelps, David Grant Colburn Hildebrand, and Brett J. Graham, on the development of GridTape, an automated electron microscopy system enabling comprehensive, high-resolution imaging of large neural circuits.
Original article in: Cell >
October 19, 2020
Chris Chen of Wade Regehr's lab shares new research on ephaptic coupling--a unique form of neuronal communication that is not mediated by chemicals or physical connections--in the cerebellum.
Original article in: Nature Neuroscience >
October 2, 2020
Hajnalka “Sunny” Nyitrai shares new research from the lab of Pascal Kaeser addressing how neurons transport material to the synapse and how they ensure delivery to the appropriate destinations.
Original article in: Cell Reports >
August 10, 2020
Myung-Gyu Choi and Yun Zhang share new research on C. elegans providing the first set of findings that demonstrate the causal role of gap junction plasticity in regulating learning in behavior.
Original article in: Nature Communications >
April 8, 2020
MCB News article on new research from the labs of Venkatesh Murthy and Beth Stevens, first author Jenelle Wallace, suggesting that microglial regulation of adult-born neuron development could contribute to ongoing plasticity in the olfactory system.
Original article in: eLife >
April 8, 2020
MCB News article on new research from the lab of Jeff Lichtman, first author Josh Morgan, using serial section EM to map the hundreds of synaptic inputs and outputs of a single inhibitory interneuron in the mouse thalamus.
Original article in: Neuron >
October 10, 2018
BCH Vector Blog post on new research from the labs of Beth Stevens, Chinfei Chen, Hisashi Umemori and colleagues, identifying a “don’t eat me” signal which prevents microglia from pruning away useful synaptic connections
Original article in: Neuron >