Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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trauma

When parents de-stress, so do offspring

Parents around the world can relax, knowing that their kids won’t inherit all of their stresses — at least at the DNA or epigenetic level. In an animal model, neuroscientists at Yerkes National Primate Research Center have shown they can reverse influences of parental stress by exposing parents to behavioral interventions following their own exposure to stress.

“These results in our mouse model are an important public health contribution because they provide optimism for applying similar interventional approaches in humans and breaking intergenerational cycles of stress,” says lead author Brian Dias. More information here.

The research was published in Biological Psychiatry, and is a continuation of Dias’ work with Kerry Ressler on this topic, which earned some attention in 2013. Note: the mice weren’t inheriting a fear as much as a sensitivity to a smell. Even so, it remains an intriguing example of how transgenerational (um, since the word “epigenetic” is so stretchy now) influences can be studied in a precise molecular way.

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Posted on August 30, 2018 by Quinn Eastman in Neuro Leave a comment

Epigenetic inheritance via sperm RNA

In 2013, Brian Dias (at Yerkes) and Kerry Ressler (now at Harvard) described a surprising example of epigenetic inheritance.

They found that a mouse, exposed to a smell in combination with stress, could transmit the resulting sensitivity to that smell to its offspring. At the time, there wasn’t a lot of information about mechanism.

Now other scientists have substantiated a proposal that micro RNA in playing a role in sperm. See this story (“Sperm RNAs transmit stress”) from Kate Yandell in The Scientist or this one from Rachel Zamzow at Spectrum, the Simons Foundation’s autism news site, for more. An added wrinkle is that this research shows that descendants of stress-exposed mice show a muted response to stress.

Note for Emory readers: Dias is scheduled to give a Frontiers in Neuroscience talk on Friday.

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Quinn Eastman in Neuro Leave a comment

Talkin’ about epigenetics

This intriguing research has received plenty of attention,  both when it was presented at the Society of Neuroscience meeting in the fall and then when the results were published in Nature Neuroscience.

The short summary is: researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center found that when a mouse learns to become afraid of a certain odor, his or her pups will be more Gafas Ray Ban Baratas sensitive to that odor, even though the pups have never encountered it. Both the parent mouse and pups have more space in the smell-processing part of their brains, called the olfactory bulb, devoted to the odor to which they are sensitive.

[Note: a feature on a similar phenomenon, transgenerational inheritance of the effects of chemical exposure, appeared in Science this week]

Somehow information about the parent’s experiences is being inherited. But how? Brian Dias and Kerry Ressler are now pursuing followup experiments to firmly establish what’s going on. They discuss their research in this video:

 

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Quinn Eastman in Neuro Leave a comment

Intervention: preventing trips to the trauma unit

Jana MacLeod, MD

Drunk drivers have been known to walk away from auto wrecks—but that’s unusual. In fact, the norm is this: those who drink before an accident of any kind, particularly a motor vehicle accident, have a much higher chance of being injured or dying than if they hadn’t been drinking at all. If you’re facing a DUI charge, don’t hesitate to reach out through this contact form to discuss your situation with an experienced lawyer.

So, Jana MacLeod, MD, and her colleagues trained surgical interns to conduct brief interventions on patients with alcohol-related injuries. MacLeod is an associate professor of surgery, Emory University School of Medicine. She says brief interventions offer patients a way to talk about their alcohol use with their physician, and then make behavioral changes if they so choose.

MacLeod talks about the benefits of these interventions in an Emory Sound Science podcast.

“Recent studies have shown brief alcohol interventions with trauma patients who have a history of alcohol misuse successfully prevented future episodes of drunk driving,” says MacLeod. What’s more, it’s been shown a five-minute intervention reduces hazardous drinking patterns up to three years after injury and decreases recidivism.

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Posted on February 9, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized 1 Comment

Emory and Grady

Grady Memorial Hospital

Grady Memorial Hospital

Every day Atlanta’s lead stories call attention to it: “Shot teen taken to Grady,” “Burn victim ambulanced to Grady,” “Accident victim stable at Grady”– Atlantans, Georgians, and even out of state residents taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in their hour of direst need. What many don’t know however, is that Grady, Atlanta’s public hospital, doesn’t only treat emergencies; Grady is recognized for programs for breast cancer, stroke, sickle cell anemia and more.

Something else many don’t know: “Grady doctors” are Emory or Morehouse doctors. All doctors at Grady are faculty or residents from Emory University School of Medicine or Morehouse School of Medicine. Emory physicians provide close to 85 percent of all physician patient care delivered at Grady. For Emory, this connection goes back to before the Civil War.

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Wendy Darling in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Translating research into life-saving

You or a loved one is suffering severe brain trauma in the wake of an accident. Imagine if doctors told you there was a treatment available that could up your chances of survival and even your chances at recovery. This isn’t just theoretical, because that’s an option some Emory patients have had, thanks to the availability of PROTECT, a progesterone-based treatment developed at Emory University and being administered by Emory trauma doctors.

Dr. Donald Stein, whose research led to the development of PROTECT, has just been honored by the Association for Psychological Science for his research and commitment to finding treatments and cures for traumatic brain injured patients.

Watch the video below to learn the real-life story of an accident victim who benefited from Stein’s work and the work of Emory’s doctors.

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Wendy Darling in Uncategorized Leave a comment