Neurodegenerative proteinopathies are characterized by misfolded proteins, which are thought to spread throughout the brain by coaxing healthy proteins to join their filament ranks. Faithful ...

Scientists sorely need biomarkers of TDP-43 pathology, but finding reliable ones has been difficult. Now, two groups, working independently, have proposed a new angle—cryptic circular RNAs, or ...

Ask a clinician or a researcher about the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in Alzheimer’s disease, and you may hear about amyloid or leaky tight junctions. Fibronectin, a major scaffold protein, won’t ...

Shape-shifting cells may explain why APOE4 carriers are at greater risk of cerebrovascular disease. In the 24 September Cell, scientists led by Joel Blanchard at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount ...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is brutal. Familial mutations cause about one in 10 cases, of which fewer than 1 percent are due to an autosomal-dominant mutation in CHCHD10. Yet one carrier of a ...

During ARIA, immune cells march from blood to brain. What sparks this mobilization? Scientists led by Moustafa Algamal, Mariel Kozberg, and Brian Bacskai at Mass General Brigham investigated this ...

Scientists show off new ways to biochemically probe tiny pieces of brain tissue taken from living people. In the September 24 Nature Communications, Ross Paterson and Aram Aslanyan at University ...

Despite the batch of positive studies, “The current evidence still doesn’t support a protective effect of HRT on dementia risk,” said Kejal Kantarci of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Attention scientists, there is a new tool for your belt—one that untangles which forms of tau crop up in research models and in the human brain. In the 4 September Nature Methods, Kara Juneau, Parag ...

Lingering for years after an initial injury has healed, chronic neuropathic pain inflicts suffering upon millions around the world. What are the molecular shenanigans that transform a minor injury ...

Could a pool of largely overlooked proteins play a crucial role in disease? Growing evidence suggests that human cells make thousands of “microproteins,” i.e., peptides smaller than 150 amino acids, ...

APOE4 is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, so why do some carriers live long lives free of dementia? Scientists know that other genetic variants modulate APOE risk.