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Neurobiology

Prof. Shani Stern. Photo - Haifa University Spokesperson

A new study at the University of Haifa found for the first time a connection between Parkinson's disease and the extracellular matrix in the brain

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Extracellular matrix is ​​the part of the tissue that surrounds the cells and provides them with structural support. Beyond the structural function of the matrix, it is used for a variety of roles, such as separating tissues from one another and controlling intercellular communication, hence its role in this disease
Prof. Hermona Sorek (right). Photo: Yosef Edst, courtesy of the Hebrew University

Breakthrough in Alzheimer's research among women

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Professor Hermona Sorek, one of the world's leading researchers of gene expression in the brain, was able to find, in collaboration with her research colleagues, a molecular mechanism that occurs in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, which does not occur in men and which explains the acceleration of cognitive deterioration in Alzheimer's patients
As we add ingredients to a fruit smoothie, it will be difficult to put our finger on the contribution of each ingredient to the final result. A fruit salad, on the other hand, allows you to combine flavors without masking the unique contribution of each fruit. Similarly, when checking the average gene expression in a certain tissue (left), it is not possible to distinguish the differences between different cells in the same tissue. Technological developments of recent years make it possible to measure the expression of genes in a tissue at the level of the single cell (right), thus characterizing with unprecedented resolution differences between cells in the same tissue

Each and every cell is stressed: first mapping of the "stress axis" at the individual cell level

From the brain to the adrenal glands - scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Max Planck Institute have mapped the entire "stress axis" and shown how chronic stress affects and changes these tissues at the individual cell level. The scientists discovered a new subpopulation of endocrine cells involved in regulating the response to chronic stress
A two-photon microscope image of a direction-coding cell in a mouse retina (the cell and its dendritic tree are marked in red) and around it starburst cells (in green) which are essential for calculating the direction of movement in most of the direction-coding cells

new direction

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The "love hormone" or the "social hormone"?

The "love hormone" may also cause anxiety and aggression

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"The Unconscious Patient (Allegory of the Sense of Smell)", 1625. Rembrandt painted this piece at the age of 19 as part of the Five Senses series. The painting was discovered in 2015 in the collection of a family in New Jersey

The smell test that predicts the return to consciousness of head injured people

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the amygdala. Photo: Prof. Roni Paz, Weizmann Institute

Weizmann Institute scientists have discovered neural activity patterns that characterize new conditioning learning

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autism. Illustration: shutterstock

The social life of nerve cells

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Magnetic resonance imaging of a subject without a olfactory bulb (right) and a subject with a olfactory bulb (left). Both with a completely normal sense of smell

Left, right and the sense of smell: about 4% of left-handed women have a normal sense of smell, even though they do not have a olfactory bulb

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Four mice in an equipped cage exhibit 60 different behaviors to be evaluated. The laboratory of Prof. Alon Chen, Weizmann Institute

Character of a mouse: Weizmann Institute scientists have developed a personality test for animals

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face recognition. Image by teguhjati pras from Pixabay

Researchers from Weizmann discovered a match between facial coding patterns in the human brain and artificial intelligence systems

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The eye and the optic nerves in the cerebral cortex. Illustration: shutterstock

Man is allowed: Weizmann Institute scientists have found what is special about the human brain

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A section of a mouse cerebral cortex. Ndnf cells (in red) in the uppermost layer are associated with excitatory neurons (in green) in lower layers (in blue: cell nuclei). Courtesy of the laboratory of Prof. Ivo Spiegel, Weizmann Institute

A neural mechanism has been discovered that combines the internal information about our moods and the information received by the senses

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Ado Kanter. Photo: Faith Baginsky.

New research on the way the brain works may help to understand neurodegenerative diseases

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"Similar to humans, the ability of bats to place others in space is essential for them." Photo: Brooke Fenton.

Me and the Guys: How the Brain Maps Social Space

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Image for the main page only.

The way the brain deals with information that is not synchronized in time

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Photo: Dawn.

move according to attention

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Building an entire brain in a lab dish is impossible, but scientists do build cellular tissue that closely resembles the developing embryonic brain. Image: pixabay.com.

build a brain in the lab

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Decreased mitochondrial calcium uptake in cells where the MTCH2 gene has been neutralized. The photo on the left shows a nerve cell that has not been genetically modified. The photo on the right shows a transgenic nerve cell (without MTCH2). Fluorescent sensors were inserted into the cells in order to illuminate the absorption of calcium in the mitochondria, and calcium was added to the growth medium of the cells. As you can see, the sensors illuminate significantly less in the engineered cell (the color scale ranges from blue, indicating low calcium absorption, to yellow, indicating high calcium absorption), which indicates impaired calcium absorption in the mitochondria. Source: from the article.

calcium escape from the brain

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Brain slice of a genetically modified mouse. Neurons that express the CRFR1 receptor appear in green, and neurons that express the neurotransmitter CRF appear in red. The image was taken with a fluorescence microscope. Source: from the article.

Law of conservation of pressure

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Common fruit bat. Weizmann Institute scientists report on a new type of neurons discovered in the bat brain. These neurons encode the direction and distance to the target to which the bat navigates and in this way they constitute a direct neural mechanism for navigating to targets. Source: Oren Pels, Derivative work: User:MathKnight, Wikimedia.

How the brain encodes the "destination point" that you want to reach

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Neurons (dark green) and glial cells (yellow-green). Illustration: shutterstock

The neural networks reach a consensus

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Timestamp of events burned into the brain. Illustration: Weizmann Institute

once in a lifetime experience

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Neurons glowing with fluorescent light. Illustration: shutterstock

Scientists used flashes of light and were able to regulate the strength of communication between brain regions far apart from each other

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anxiety. Illustration: shutterstock

* Past emotional experiences affect the way anxiety-prone people perceive new experiences

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