Brain

The Arl8b protein provides new insights into the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease. It also has the potential to function as a diagnostic marker. The scientists behind this discovery, a team led by Erich Wanker from the Max Delbrück Center, have published their findings in “Genome Medicine”.

Hypertension can damage the heart, brain, and blood vessels. The immune system plays an important role in this process, Suphansa Sawamiphak from the Max Delbrück Center reports in Cardiovascular Research. The study, using zebrafish, found that inflammation causes macrophages to damage blood vessels instead of protecting them.

Chromatin factors are involved in regulating gene expression. If they do not function properly, this can result in neurological impairments. Ana Pombo and Alexander Kukalev are now receiving almost €400,000 from the DFG for a research project that aims to shed more light on how these factors work.

Researchers from the Max Delbrück Center have found a region of the brain that is responsible for our perception of temperature when we touch things. The paper, which appears in “Nature”, reports the discovery of a ‘thermal cortex’ located in a posterior region of the insular cortex.

Cephalopods like octopuses, squids and cuttlefish are highly intelligent animals with complex nervous systems. In “Science Advances”, a team led by Nikolaus Rajewsky of the Max Delbrück Center has now shown that their evolution is linked to a dramatic expansion of their microRNA repertoire.

Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases have one thing in common: misfolded proteins damage the nerve cells in the brain. Erich Wanker and Anne Ast explained at the Urania Berlin why the protein origami is so important, how the damage occurs and what can be done about it (recording in German).

A team led by MDC researcher Ana Pombo has deciphered the 3D structure of the genome in three cell types of the mouse brain. They not only discovered specific folding patterns but also found that very long genes almost completely lose their compact folded structure when most at work, as they report in “Nature”.

The potassium channel KCNQ3 is required for our brain to generate accurate spatial maps. Defects in this channel have measurable effects on the internal navigation system of mice, reports a research team led by Thomas Jentsch of the FMP and MDC in the journal “Nature Communications”.

Erich Wanker wants to find out to what extent misfolded, and hence pathological, amyloid proteins structurally alter other proteins in the neurons – and thus contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s dementia. He has now received €120,000 in funding from the non-profit "Alzheimer Forschung Initiative" to pursue this research.

Neuroscience is one of Berlin’s strongest fields of research. The Berlin Brains lecture series at Urania shows the breadth and depth of this research expertise in the capital city – this year under the theme “Junior Meets Senior.” The MDC’s Thomas Willnow and Anna Löwa are kicking off the series.