Study: Protein found to be key component in irregularly excited brain cells

Research scientist Kwan Young Lee, molecular and integrative physiology professor Nien-Pei Tsai, and their colleagues discovered that an overabundance of the tumor suppressor protein p53 in neurons can lead to impaired regulation of neuronal excitability in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome.

Virtual predator is self-aware, behaves like living counterpart

Rhanor Gillette and his colleagues built a virtual ocean predator that has simple self-awareness.

Chung Lab: Prolonged seizure activity causes caspase dependent cleavage and dysfunction of G-protein activated inwardly rectifying potassium channels.

New findings suggest that novel down-regulation of GIRK channels by caspase-3 may contribute to NMDAR-dependent hippocampal atrophy following chronic epileptic seizures

NSF awards Illinois $3 million for interdisciplinary graduate student training

Professor Martha Gillette will lead the program to form new insight on the brain and expand participation in field of brain science.

Assistant Professor Nien-Pei Tsai’s lab has published a study in PLOS Genetics on how a novel epilepsy-associated gene controls neuronal excitability

Epilepsy is a medical condition characterized by spontaneous seizures due to hyperexcitability of brain neurons. Assistant Professor Nien-Pei Tsai, graduate student Jiuhe Zhu and colleagues uncovered that an insufficient function or mutations of a novel epilepsy-associated gene Nedd4-2 leads to...

Technological Breakthroughs Transform Biological Inquiry in Neuroscience

The infinitely complex workings of the human brain have intrigued researchers for centuries. Our understanding of its workings have been limited, not by our curiosity, but by our tools. Now, with the growth of new molecular biology and genomics approaches, big data, and engineering advances that...

MCB Faculty Named Directors of LAS Graduate Programs

Professor Satish Nair of the Department of Biochemistry has been appointed Director of the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology. Professor Nair has been serving as Interim Director since November 2015. Professor Martha Gillette of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology has been...

Martha Gillette and collaborators receive two grants to study the brain

Gillette, professor of cell and developmental biology, and colleagues will collaborate on various projects involving innovative single cell analysis in brain and the creation of biological machines in hopes of creating new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Ceman lab in Cell Reports: How FMRP interacts with RNA helicase MOV10 to regulate translation

The Ceman laboratory, with lead authors Phil Kenny and Miri Kim, have shown that FMRP is able to facilitate or suppress the translation of a subset of its target mRNAs by its interaction with the RNA helicase MOV10.

NSF awards BRAIN EAGER grant to team led by Martha Gillette

A Team led by Martha Gillette, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Neuroscience and Bioengineering, has been awarded a BRAIN EAGER grant from NSF for a project titled “Multiscale dynamics and emergent properties of suprachiasmatic circuits in real time...