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Neuron

Spotlight: The Kuo Lab

Principal Investigator: Dr. Sheng-Han Kuo Location: Columbia University, New York, NY, United States Year Founded:  2012 What disease areas do you research? SCA1 SCA2 SCA3 SCA6 Tremor Essential Tremor What models and techniques do you use? Mouse models Post-mortem patient tissue Optogenetics Human physiology EEG (electroencephalogram) Neuromodulation Research Focus What is your Read More…

Snapshot: What is Neurogenesis?

Neurons are the cells that serve as building blocks of the nervous system. The brain contains an enormous variety of neurons, and they all need to get a start somewhere. The process by which neurons are formed is called neurogenesis. When does neurogenesis happen? Nearly all neurogenesis occurs before the Read More…

Snapshot: What is Neurofilament light protein (NfL)?

Nerve cells (aka neurons) are unique cells in that they have long, and thin extensions called axons which form connections with and talk to other neurons. This particular shape of neurons determines how quickly they can get their messages to other cells. You can think of the axons in the Read More…

Snapshot: What are Astrocytes?

The human brain contains about 170 billion cells. Half of these are neurons and the other half are lesser known cells called glia. Glial cells include astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia. Astrocytes tile the entire brain and interact closely with neurons. Astrocytes are very important for neuronal function, in many ways Read More…

Snapshot: What is an ion channel?

One of the most important features of neurons (Purkinje cells, for example), is that they are capable of electrical communication. Think of the last time you saw a TV intro or movie montage with a depiction of the brain on a microscopic level – though it’s technically invisible to the Read More…

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