research on neuroscience journals

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Exome sequencing of 20,979 individuals with epilepsy reveals shared and distinct ultra-rare genetic risk across disorder subtypes

In this largest whole-exome sequencing study of epilepsies to date, the Epi25 Collaborative identified extremely rare variants that confer risk for diverse epilepsy subtypes, highlighting roles in synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability.

• Epi25 Collaborative

Maintaining and updating accurate internal representations of continuous variables with a handful of neurons

Many animals rely on internal representations of continuous variables such as head direction to guide behavior. Noorman et al. show how such representations can be accurately maintained in small neural networks, countering decades of theoretical intuition.

• Marcella Noorman
• Brad K. Hulse
• Ann M. Hermundstad

A potential target for noninvasive neuromodulation of PTSD symptoms derived from focal brain lesions in veterans

Siddiqi et al. identified lesion locations that reduced probability of PTSD. These were connected to a brain circuit in which increased connectivity was associated with PTSD, thus revealing a PTSD target circuit for therapeutic brain stimulation.

• Shan H. Siddiqi
• Noah S. Philip
• Michael D. Fox

Advances and controversies in meningeal biology

The authors review current knowledge of the molecular identity and functions of the dura, arachnoid and pial layers of meninges and controversial aspects of meningeal biology that deserve further study to resolve ongoing debates in the field.

• Christer Betsholtz
• Britta Engelhardt
• Julie Siegenthaler

Current issue

Oligodendrocytes need lymphatics, emphatically.

• Shari Wiseman

Perturbing the line

• Luis A. Mejia

DNA methylation drives astrocyte stemness

• George Andrew S. Inglis
• Bassel W. Abou-Khalil
• Samuel F. Berkovic

Proteomic changes in Alzheimer’s disease associated with progressive Aβ plaque and tau tangle pathologies

• Alexa Pichet Binette
• Chris Gaiteri
• Oskar Hansson

Characteristics of blood–brain barrier heterogeneity between brain regions revealed by profiling vascular and perivascular cells

• Sarah J. Pfau
• Urs H. Langen
• Chenghua Gu

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Latest Research articles

Integrating brainstem and cortical functional architectures

Hansen et al. used in vivo functional imaging of the human brainstem and cortex to demonstrate how the brainstem shapes cortical functional architecture, including oscillatory dynamics, cognitive specialization and hierarchical organization.

• Justine Y. Hansen
• Simone Cauzzo
• Bratislav Misic

Rastermap: a discovery method for neural population recordings

Rastermap is an analysis method for exploring dynamical and spatial relationships among hundreds to hundreds of thousands of neurons. The algorithm uses a fast optimization technique to discover complex neural patterns, such as sequences.

• Carsen Stringer
• Marius Pachitariu

A cross-disease resource of living human microglia identifies disease-enriched subsets and tool compounds recapitulating microglial states

Profiling >200,000 live human microglia from 74 donors across neurological diseases reveals 12 subtypes of microglia that were validated in situ. Camptothecin is also identified as a compound reducing disease-enriched microglial subsets.

• John F. Tuddenham
• Mariko Taga
• Philip L. De Jager

The hippocampal CA2 region discriminates social threat from social safety

The hippocampal dorsal CA2 enables the recognition of novel conspecifics. Kassraian et al. show that it is also required for discriminating safety- versus threat-associated conspecifics and that its disruption gives rise to generalized social avoidance.

• Pegah Kassraian
• Shivani K. Bigler
• Steven A. Siegelbaum

Integrated multimodal cell atlas of Alzheimer’s disease

The affected cellular populations during Alzheimer’s disease progression remain understudied. Here the authors use a cohort of 84 donors, quantitative neuropathology and multimodal datasets from the BRAIN Initiative. Their pseudoprogression analysis revealed two disease phases.

• Mariano I. Gabitto
• Kyle J. Travaglini

Modeling Parkinson’s disease pathology in human dopaminergic neurons by sequential exposure to α-synuclein fibrils and proinflammatory cytokines

Bayati et al. discovered that sequential treatment of iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons with α-synuclein fibrils and proinflammatory cytokines leads to the formation of Lewy body–like inclusions, through the downregulation of lysosomal proteins.

• Armin Bayati
• Riham Ayoubi
• Peter S. McPherson

Latest Reviews & Analysis

Myelin lipid metabolism can provide energy for starved axons

We reveal that lipid turnover in the myelin sheath generates a fatty acid pool in oligodendrocytes that can contribute to the energy balance of white matter tracts. We also demonstrate that when glucose levels are limiting, fatty acid metabolism can support glial cell survival and the basic functional integrity of myelinated axons.

Neuronal activity stimulates a genetic program to rapidly generate synapses during development

In Caenorhabditis elegans , loss of the transcription factors FOS-1 and EGL-43 — orthologs of human FOS and MECOM, respectively — severely reduces presynaptic gene expression in dopaminergic neurons. These transcription factors form an activity-regulated positive feedback loop, which modulates the expression of synaptic genes and genetic programs to promote synapse formation.

Centering cognitive neuroscience on task demands and generalization

Task demands are a primary determiner of behavior and neurophysiology. Here the authors discuss how understanding their influence through multitask studies and tests of generalization is the key to articulating novel cognitive neuroscience concepts.

• Matthias Nau
• Alexandra C. Schmid
• Dwight J. Kravitz

Explaining dopamine through prediction errors and beyond

The hypothesis that dopamine reports reward prediction errors has been both influential and controversial. This Perspective characterizes the present state of evidence, indicating where it succeeds and where it falls short. A complete account of dopamine will probably need to move beyond the reward prediction error hypothesis while retaining its core explanatory power.

• Samuel J. Gershman
• John A. Assad
• Linda Wilbrecht

Cerebellar Purkinje neurons enhance thirst via asprosin–PTPRD signaling

Hippocampal neurons encode identities and positions of human experimenters, a sensory–motor theory of the neocortex.

• Rajesh P. N. Rao

Dissecting the epigenetic regulation of human brain organoid development in single cells

News & comment.

A trainee-informed model for undergraduate neuroscience research programs serving marginalized students

Undergraduate research programs improve career outcomes for historically marginalized students in the US, but low retention rates in postgraduate research persist. As graduate students and postdocs, we present a combination of trainee-informed approaches for tailoring summer research programs to these students’ needs and share key materials to facilitate adoption of these approaches at other institutions.

• Christian Cazares
• Maribel Patiño
• Kevin L. White

Beyond category-based object characterization

• Henrietta Howells

Molecular architecture of the human brain vasculature

• Elisa Floriddia

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Neuroanatomical changes observed over the course of a human pregnancy

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