In a study published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, a team led by Shannon L. Macauley, Ph.D., an associate professor of physiology in the UK College of Medicine, and first author Nicholas J. Constantino, Ph.D., a recent UK doctoral graduate, revealed that microglia are the primary drivers of sleep loss. By using a drug to temporarily remove these cells in animal models, the researchers successfully restored over two hours of sleep per day, providing a new target for treating the disease that Macauley described as “paradigm shifting.”

When some species of bacteria find themselves in an environmentally stressful situation they can hunker down and form spores—hardened protein-coated spheres protecting a DNA-filled core, stable for years or even centuries. Tufts researchers have found new ways to expand the potential for using bacterial spores as catalysts for chemical reactions, biofuel production, or breaking down pollutants

Advances in medical technology have improved our health in part by bringing key aspects of care, once difficult to access, into the home. Tracking symptoms and even screening for certain types of illness outside of a laboratory or clinical setting puts more control into the hands of patients. New research from the University of Illinois is helping to provide a practical answer to the question, what does a holistic system need to look like in order to work outside the laboratory?

Research led by Han Keun Lee in the laboratory of electrical and computer engineering professor Brian Cunningham, in collaboration with bioengineering professor Xing Wang, was published in the IEEE Sensors Journal. Lee, Cunningham, Wang, and their coauthors shared the design and validation of a device that offers the capability to read and compare results from a variety of sensitive tests for pathogens or cancer-associated biomarkers, all within a housing similar in size and shape to an AirPods case.

Scientists have for the first time mapped in exquisite, three-dimensional detail six major conformations of a membrane in the brain related to learning, memory and fear-related behavior.

A groundbreaking study using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has found that patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower muscarinic acetylcholine M1 receptor availability (~13% to 19%) across multiple brain regions compared with healthy individuals. Reductions in M1 receptors affect several brain regions involved in cognition, learning, memory, and executive function. The findings in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, provide the first in vivo evidence supporting widespread M1 receptor deficits in schizophrenia.