LA JOLLA, CA–Among stem cell biologists there are few better-known proteins than nestin, whose very presence in an immature cell identifies it as a “stem cell,” such as a neural stem cell. As helpful as this is to researchers, until now no…
A molecule that naturally degrades a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease appears to reduce the levels of that protein by nearly 50 percent when delivered by gene therapy, researchers at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego have found in collaboration with researchers at the University of Kentucky. The findings appear in the March 15 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Research at the Salk Institute has identified a gene that may link certain pesticides and chemical weaponry to a number of neurological disorders, including the elusive Gulf War syndrome and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The finding is the first to demonstrate a clear genetic link between neurological disorders and exposure to organophosphate chemicals; the gene is one that scientists had not studied in previous efforts to find connections between these chemicals and disease. Organophosphates include household pesticides as well as deadly nerve gases like sarin.