Neurodegeneration

At SfN 2019, we interviewed Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, to take a deeper look at the field of non-invasive brain stimulation and hear why it has such a substantial therapeutic promise.

The brain is an immensely complex structure, but there are ways we can divide up its anatomical structure into more discrete parts. One common divider is to separate the brain’s gray and white matter. But what are these two structures? How different are they from each other? How significant, and physiologically relevant, is this divide?

An ambitious new research project powered by hitherto inaccessible techniques is investigating whether a crowded cellular environment might have a role to play in the origin of neurodegeneration.

Neurodegenerative diseases are one of the most pressing challenges of our time and teasing out the cellular mechanisms underpinning these diseases is a key goal for researchers in the field. We talked to Stéphane Martinez of CISBIO to discuss how researchers can access information on neurodegenerative mechanisms and how we are beginning to recognize the contribution of the immune system to neurodegeneration.