Clive Bate

Royal Veterinary College

Taos: Biomarkers Keep Blooming, But Where’s the Fruit?

CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2011-04-05 Conference Coverage Biomarkers could be invaluable diagnostic and prognostic indicators for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Hardly a meeting goes by these days without mention of a new potential marker. Neurodegenerative Diseases: The Mo

Research Brief: Links in the Chain Between Amyloid-β and LTP

RESEARCH NEWS 2011-04-05 Research News Indications are that amyloid-β destroys memory by disrupting synaptic plasticity. A Nature Neuroscience paper posted online March 27 lays out three possible steps along the way. “Amyloid-β activates caspases; this cleaves Akt1, which normall

Evelyn Bonnie Owens

Tracy, United States

Tatiyana Apanasovich

United States

Iryna Lobach

NYU
New York, United States

Huaibin Cai on Rac1 protein rescues neurite retraction caused by G2019S leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2).

COMMENT LRRK2 mutations lead to typical Parkinson’s disease and represent a very common cause of both familial and sporadic PD. A variety of studies have been devoted to characterize the pathophysiological functions of LRRK2 and its mutations in order to understa

Mark Cookson on Rac1 protein rescues neurite retraction caused by G2019S leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2).

COMMENT This paper by Chan et al. develops the previous reports of an effect of LRRK2 on neurite length to include a specific molecular effector, Rac1. That LRRK2 influences neurite length in cell culture is reasonably well established, as several labs have repli

PAPER Chan D, Citro A, Cordy JM, Shen GC, Wolozin B

Rac1 protein rescues neurite retraction caused by G2019S leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2).

J Biol Chem. 2011 May 6;286(18):16140-9. PubMed: 21454543

PAPER Fredén K, Olsson LB, Vilén L, Kutti J

Peripheral platelet count in response to salbutamol before and after adrenergic beta-receptor blockade.

Acta Haematol. 1978;60(5):310-5. PubMed: 30249

Malin Eklund

AstraZeneca
Södertälje, Sweden

Barcelona: Allosteric γ Modulation Moves Toward Clinic

CONFERENCE COVERAGE 2011-04-04 Conference Coverage As the research field’s collective eyes are shifting toward the γ-secretase modulators, what do scientists actually have on that score? At AD/PD 2011, several academic and biopharma groups presented on the topic ranging from fundamenta

Large Genetic Analysis Pays Off With New AD Risk Genes

RESEARCH NEWS 2011-04-03 Research News Casting a larger net boosts the chance of landing fish. The same goes for genes. Over the last few years, researchers have been pushing genomewide association studies (GWAS) as a means to find genetic variants that put people at risk for Alz

Dyeing Worms for an Extra-Long, Healthy Lifespan?

RESEARCH NEWS 2011-04-03 Research News Have amyloid researchers had the formula for graceful aging and no neurodegeneration under their microscopes all along? At least in nematodes, that seems to be the case, according to a study posted in the March 30 Nature online. The aggregat

PAPER Pesiridis GS, Tripathy K, Tanik S, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM

A "two-hit" hypothesis for inclusion formation by carboxyl-terminal fragments of TDP-43 protein linked to RNA depletion and impaired microtubule-dependent transport.

J Biol Chem. 2011 May 27;286(21):18845-55. PubMed: 21454607