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MDC at the Long Night of Sciences, Saturday 2nd June 2012, from 3pm. Click here to see our Programme

Research Highlights

"I'm picking up good vibrations"

A recent finding by the labs of Carmen Birchmeier and Gary Lewin published in the current issue of Science, identifies a molecule that directs the development of nerve cells and is important for the detection of vibrations. This molecule determines the form this nerve cell acquires, its functions in the nervous system, and ultimately whether humans sense high-frequency vibrations. This provides a complete story of how the development and function of the nervous system of an organism as a whole can be directly linked to a molecule at work in one of its cell types.

Tipping the balance on Alzheimer's disease

During Alzheimer's disease, the brains of patients accumulate plaques made mostly of a protein fragment called amyloid-beta peptide. This fragment is created when enzymes cut it from a larger protein called APP. The labs of Thomas Willnow and Jana Wolf have now combined experiments and mathematical modeling in a "systems biology" approach to show that the enzymes prefer to make the cuts on APP molecules that have formed pairs. This process is largely blocked when a protein called SORLA binds to single APP molecules and prevents them from forming pairs. The work provides an important new potential approach in the search for Alzheimer therapies.