MIT researchers have identified a family of proteins key to the formation of the communication networks critical for normal brain function. Their research could lead to new treatments for brain injury and disease.

Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have found a new marker which may aid in early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the October issue of Radiology.

With ethical issues concerning use of discarded embryos and technical problems hindering development of stem cell therapies, scientists in Korea are reporting the first successful use of a drug-like molecule to transform human muscle cells into nerve cells.

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative brain disease characterized by the loss of dopamine neurons in the midbrain-area called Substantia Nigra. The research group led by professor Mart Saarma, Director of the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, has discovered a novel neurotrophic factor CDNF (Conserved Dopamine Neurotrophic Factor).

Brain "pacemakers" that have helped ease symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders seem to work by drowning out the electrical signals of their diseased brains.

A molecule thought crucial to ferrying the deadly rabies virus into the brain, where it eventually kills, apparently isn't. The surprising finding, say researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, may change the way scientists think about how central nervous system-attacking viruses such as herpes viruses invade the brain and cause disease.