Neural Cell News Volume 4.09 | Mar 10 2010

TOP STORY

Loss of Enzyme Reduces Neural Activity in Angelman Syndrome
New work provides insight into Angelman Syndrome by showing that the lost enzyme, Ube3A, interacts with a key neuronal protein in order to control how environmental input shapes synaptic connections. [Press release from EurekaAlert! discussing the online prepublication in Cell]

SCIENCE NEWS

Scientists Find New Form of Prion Disease that Damages Brain Arteries
Scientists investigating how prion diseases destroy the brain have observed a new form of the disease in mice that does not cause the sponge-like brain deterioration typically seen in prion diseases. Instead, it resembles a form of human Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy that damages brain arteries. [Press release from the National Institutes of Health discussing the online prepublication in PLoS Pathogens]

CURRENT PUBLICATIONS

The Angelman Syndrome Protein Ube3A Regulates Synapse Development by Ubiquitinating Arc
Researchers find that disruption of Ube3A function in neurons leads to an increase in Arc expression and a concomitant decrease in the number of AMPA receptors at excitatory synapses. [Cell]

Fatal Transmissible Amyloid Encephalopathy: A New Type of Prion Disease Associated with Lack of Prion Protein Membrane Anchoring
In the present experiments, using homozygous transgenic mice expressing two-fold more anchorless prion protein (PrP), scrapie infection induced a new fatal disease with unique clinical signs and altered neuropathology, compared to non-transgenic mice expressing only anchored PrP. [PLoS Pathogens]

Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Affect Calcium Handling in Differentiated Neurons
Researchers examined calcium responses in the neurons derived from various ‘cybrid’ embryonic stem cell lines carrying different mitochondrial DNA mutations. [Brain]

Dynamic Transcriptomes During Neural Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Revealed by Short, Long, and Paired-End Sequencing
To examine the fundamental mechanisms governing neural differentiation, researchers analyzed the transcriptome changes that occur during the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into the neural lineage.  [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A]

Impaired Neurogenesis is an Early Event in the Etiology of Familial Alzheimer’s Disease in Transgenic Mice
This study suggests that impaired neurogenesis is an early critical event in the course of Alzheimer’s disease that may underlie memory impairments, at least in part, and exacerbate neuronal vulnerability in the hippocampal formation and olfaction circuits. [J Neurosci Res]

Directed Neural Lineage Differentiation of Adult Hippocampal Progenitor Cells via Modulation of Hippocampal Cholinergic Neurostimulating Peptide Precursor Expression
Results show that the expression level of hippocampal cholinergic neurostimulating peptide precursor protein (HCNP-pp) acts as a key regulator for differentiation of cultured adult rat hippocampal progenitor cells into specific neural lineages, indicating that the control of neural stem cell fate can be achieved via the HCNP-pp pathway. [Brain Res]

Tetramethylpyrazine Promotes Proliferation and Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells from Rat Brain in Hypoxic Condition via Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway In Vitro
Findings demonstrated that tetramethylpyrazine enhanced the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells of rat after hypoxia in vitro, in which the phosphorylation of ERK and p38 was involved. [Neurosci Lett]

Functional Endothelial Progenitor Cells Derived from Adipose Tissue Show Beneficial Effect on Cell Therapy of Traumatic Brain Injury
Results suggest that adult adipose tissue derived stem cells can be induced to functional endothelial progenitor cells and have beneficial effect on cell therapy. [Neurosci Lett]

Angiogenic Factors Stimulate Growth of Adult Neural Stem Cells
Researchers show that neural stem cells can be efficiently grown in adherent cell cultures when angiogenic signals are included in the medium. [PLoS One]

INDUSTRY NEWS

Ottawa to Get $100 Million Brain-Mind Study Centre
Ottawa will soon get a $100 million research centre to focus on illnesses of the mind and brain, which are fast becoming the developed world’s most pressing disorders. [Ottawa Citizen]

Stem Cell Research Center to Open at University of California, Davis Medical Center
University of California, Davis will open a $62 million stem cell facility at its medical center campus in Sacramento. [Sacramento Business Journal]

POLICY NEWS

Canadian Budget Light on New Research Dollars
Relief was the order of the day for Canadian scientists as the federal government brought down its fiscal blueprint for 2010-11. [Conservative Party, Canada]

In Annual Rite, Chinese Science Showered With Riches
At the opening session of the National People’s Congress, officials announced that the science and technology budget will rise 8% to 163.3 billion RMB ($24 billion) in 2010. [National People’s Congress, China]

Guidance for Industry: Characterization and Qualification of Cell Substrates and Other Biological Materials Used in the Production of Viral Vaccines for Infectious Disease Indications; Availability, 9905-9906 [2010-4553] [Food and Drug Administration, United States]

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Support for M.D./Ph.D. Students Will Now Use the F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Mechanism (NOT-NS-10-010) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Notice of Availability of Administrative Supplements for Roadmap Assay Development for High Throughput Molecular Screening Awards (National Institute for Neurological Disorders & Stroke) (NOT-NS-10-012) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Jointly Sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Institutional Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (T32) (PAR-10-116) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Request for Information (RFI): To Solicit Input for the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Strategic Plan for Training and Career Development (NOT-GM-10-102) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Correction to Required Budget Component for PAR-09-084: Enhancing Developmental Biology Research at Undergraduate Institutions Academic Research Enhancement Award (R15) (NOT-HD-10-007) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Clarification of Budget Form for PAR-09-092 Academic-Community Partnership Conference Series (U13) (NOT-HD-10-009) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Recovery Act Limited Competition: The National Institutes of Health Director’s American Recovery & Reinvestment Act Funded Pathfinder Award to Promote Diversity in the Scientific Workforce (DP4) (RFA-OD-10-013) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Minority Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (U-STAR) National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (T34) (PAR-10-119) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

EVENTS

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 101st Annual Meeting 2010
April 17-21, 2010
Washington, DC, United States

17th Annual Conference of the American Society for Neural Therapy & Repair (ASNTR)
April 29-May 1, 2010
Clearwater Beach, United States

2010 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting
May 15-18, 2010
Ottawa, Canada

International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 8th Annual Meeting
June 16-19, 2010
San Francisco, United States

BIT’s 1st World Congress of NeuroTalk – 2010
June 25-28, 2010
Singapore City, Singapore

7th Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum of European Neuroscience
July 3-7, 2010
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

40th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience 2010
November 13-17, 2010
San Diego, United States

JOB OPPORTUNITIES