Changing Channels

HHMI Bulletin | February 2012

Scott Sternson has always wondered what drives behavior, especially those fundamental motivations required for survival. Hunger, for example, is so crucial that it must be evolutionarily “hard-wired” deep within the brain. After all, as Sternson observes, “if the animal doesn’t eat, it dies.” read story

The No-Brainer That Wasn’t

HHMI Bulletin | August 2007

Imagine your mechanic yanked the engine out of your car. You buckle up, turn the ignition, and off you drive, undoubtedly with a shattered notion of how automobiles work. That’s essentially what researchers led by HHMI investigator Pietro De Camilli experienced earlier this year when they eliminated a brain protein from mice thought to be an engine for transmitting nerve impulses.  read in full issue (pdf)

These Rodents See Red

HHMI Bulletin | August 2007

Some lab mice can see the world in a whole new light, thanks to HHMI investigator Jeremy Nathans and his colleague Gerald H. Jacobs. Their findings provide insight into the remarkable plasticity of mammalian brains, and shed light on a plausible means by which humans may have acquired the ability to see many colors.  read in full issue (pdf)

From the corner of the eye: Paying attention to attention

Salk Institute | July 5, 2007

Every kid knows that moms have “eyes in the back of their heads.” We are adept at fixing our gaze on one object while independently directing attention to others. Salk Institute neurobiologists are beginning to tease apart the complex brain networks that enable humans and other higher mammals to achieve this feat.  read story

Sculpting Brain Connections

HHMI Bulletin | May 2007

Unlike your computer’s memory chips, whose circuits are etched into a solid slab of silicon, real brain circuits change shape as they learn. HHMI investigator Michael D. Ehlers and his colleagues at Duke University are themselves learning how neurons remold their connections, and they may have identified the brain’s favored sculpting tool.
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Scientists Crack Code for Motor Neuron Wiring

HHMI Bulletin | February 2006

As you turn the pages of this Bulletin, motor neurons that project from your spinal cord are coordinating the precise actions of more than 50 muscles in each of your arms. Each muscle is individually controlled by its own motor neuron cluster, which has a distinct identity and pattern of connectivity.  read in full issue (pdf)

The Fate of Brain Cells

HHMI Bulletin | December 2005

A fountain of youth springs from within the brain of every mammal, report HHMI investigator Alexandra L. Joyner and her former postdoctoral associate Sohyun Ahn in the October 6, 2005, issue of Nature. No, the two researchers haven’t unlocked the secret to immortality. But their discovery of a method to visualize an elusive population of stem cells that has the potential to regenerate nerves and other brain cells may explain how certain regions of the brain rejuvenate themselves. Moreover, the findings may allow researchers to tap the revitalizing powers of stem cells for repairing injured and diseased brain tissue.
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DReAMM Scheme

HHMI Bulletin | December 2005

Combining high-resolution serial electron microscopic tomography, neuroelectrophysiological measurements, mathematical modeling, and computer graphics, a multi-institution team led by HHMI investigator Terrence J. Sejnowski at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has overturned a half-century’s dogma in neurobiology.
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