A new study challenges conventional thinking about how brain cells die in Alzheimer’s disease. The findings demonstrate a previously unknown mechanism by which the cells die and will help lead researchers in new directions for treating the degenerative brain disease. The study by scientists at the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute is published this week in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Continue reading
Jan. 17, 2012 – A devastating neurodegenerative disease that first appears in toddlers just as they are beginning to walk has been traced to defects in mitochondria, the ‘batteries’ or energy-producing power plants of cells. This finding by a team of researchers, led by investigators from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro- at McGill University, was published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS). Continue reading
November 14, 2011. – A research team from Université Laval, led by Jean-Pierre Julien, has taken a new step in understanding the cellular mechanisms involved in Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This disease is characterized by degeneration of neurons that control muscle activity. Continue reading
