News & HighlightsNews
Hunger-controlling brain cells may offer path for new obesity drugs
Within the oldest part of the brain, scientists have found cells in charge of controlling appetite and eating. The discovery could revitalize efforts to develop drugs for obesity that make us less hungry.
Faster-acting antidepressants may finally be within reach
Neuroscientists have taken a major step toward answering longstanding questions about how Prozac and similar drugs act in the brain. Their findings could lead to better antidepressants that don't take weeks to kick in.
In brief: How a microRNA protects against liver cancer
New insights about gene regulation in liver cells could lead to better treatments for a common tumor type.
In brief: Mapping the errors that disrupt heartbeat
By determining the structure of a protein linked to a deadly form of arrhythmia, scientists have gained new insights about the condition.
Scientists use algorithm to peer through opaque brains
A new algorithm allows scientists to record the activity of individual neurons within a volume of brain tissue.
In brief: A closer look at why some drugs cause arrhythmia
Scientists have identified the features that render a potassium channel in the heart vulnerable to interference by a range of drugs.
Researchers create interactive touchscreen for dolphins
To learn more about dolphin cognition and communication, researchers have developed an underwater touchscreen using optical technology, the first of its kind.
Scientists identify a neural circuit that rotates a fly’s internal compass
Researchers have uncovered the neurons that spin a fly’s internal compass when the insect turns—the first such mechanism identified in any animal.
Newly discovered brain network offers clues to social cognition
By studying rhesus monkeys, researchers have identified a brain network dedicated to processing social interactions—a discovery that offers tantalizing clues to the origins of our ability to understand what other people are thinking.
Mary E. Hatten is elected to the National Academy of Sciences
With Hatten’s election, the Rockefeller faculty now has 39 members or foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences.
Study identifies “night owl” gene variant
Scientists have discovered a common mutation that might explain why some people have trouble going to sleep at night and getting up early. The gene alteration slows the internal biological clock that regulates our sleeping patterns.
Changes in the vascular system may trigger Alzheimer’s disease
In some people whose cognitive functions are weakened due to Alzheimer’s, the disease can be traced back to changes in the brain’s blood vasculature. Scientists have found that a protein involved in blood clotting and inflammation might offer a potential path to new drugs.
For biologists studying tiny worms, new technologies make big improvements
Two new technologies are helping scientists understand new aspects of organ and nervous system development in C. elegans. One allows them to image worms developing in a natural environment, while the other makes it possible to track single neurons as the worms grow.
Study tests the “three-hit” theory of autism
Since the first case was documented in the United States in 1938, the causes of autism have remained elusive. Hundreds of genes, as well as environmental exposures, have been implicated in these brain disorders. Sex also seems to have something to do with it: About 80 percent of children diagnose...
Paul Greengard Professorship established with $5 million gift from the Fisher Center Foundation
Late last year, guests at the President’s House raised a glass in celebration of one of Rockefeller’s most beloved colleagues. In his nearly 35 years at Rockefeller, Paul Greengard has led pioneering studies that have transformed our understanding of how the nervous system works, and have paved ...
New research explains why a common bacterium can produce severe illness
As much as we try to avoid it, ­we are constantly sharing germs with those around us. But even when two people have the same infection, the resulting illnesses can be dramatically different—mild for one person, severe or even life-threatening for the other. Now, new research from The Rockefell...
Talking Science lecture introduces students to the genetic aspects of infectious diseases
As he opened this year’s Talking Science lecture, geneticist Jean-Laurent Casanova made a stark observation to his teenage audience: “If we had been here 150 years ago, about half of you would already have died.” The primary reason, he told the 350 high school students and 60 teachers present,...
Crowdsourcing effort helps researchers predict how a molecule will smell
You can anticipate a color before you see it, based solely on the length of light waves. Music can be interpreted from notes on a page without being heard. Not so with odor.
Mouse studies offer new insights about cocaine’s effect on the brain
 Cocaine is one of the most addictive substances known to man, and for good reason: By acting on levels of the “feel-good” chemical dopamine, it produces a tremendous sensation of euphoria. Now the laboratory of Rockefeller University Professor and Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard has shown...
Newly discovered beetle species named after Rockefeller’s Daniel Kronauer
 Scientists can rack up many awards, but to have one’s name cemented in scientific nomenclature is a special kind of honor. In an homage to his mentor Daniel Kronauer, former Rockefeller postdoctoral associate Christoph von Beeren has named a new species of beetle Nymphister kronaueri. ...
MacKinnon lab charts the anatomy of three molecular channels
Using a state-of-the-art imaging technology in which molecules are deep frozen, scientists in Roderick MacKinnon’s lab at Rockefeller University have reconstructed in unprecedented detail the three-dimensional architecture of three channels that provide a path for specific types of ions to travel...
New research offers clues into how the brain shapes perception to control behavior
What you see is not always what you get. And that, researchers at The Rockefeller University have discovered, is a good thing. “Every time you move your eye, the whole world moves on your retina,” says Gaby Maimon, head of the Laboratory of Integrative Brain Function. “But you don’t perce...
New molecular map reveals how cells spew out potassium
New research from Roderick MacKinnon's Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics at The Rockefeller University has determined, for the first time, the complete structure of an ion channel that plays an important role in cellular electrical signaling by sending potassium ions out of the ...
Fifty years after landmark methadone discovery, stigmas and misunderstandings persist
Methadone, the first pharmacological treatment for heroin addiction, was pioneered 50 years ago by Rockefeller University’s Mary Jeanne Kreek and her colleagues. Since then the drug, which is widely used in treatment programs across the globe, has saved countless lives and allowed millions of her...
Jean-Laurent Casanova receives the 2016 Inserm Grand Prix
Jean-Laurent Casanova, professor and head of the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, has won the 2016 Inserm Grand Prix for his work on the genetic basis of infectious diseases. The prestigious award, given annually by Inserm—the French National Institute of Health and ...
Scientists prove how genetics change behavior by studying worms’ foraging strategies
“Organisms pay attention to what other members of their species are doing,” says Cori Bargmann, a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University. “It’s a very robust phenomenon that you see from humans on Twitter to bacteria, and everything in between.” That’s why Bargmann, Torsten N. W...
Researchers watch in 3D as neurons talk to each other in a living mouse brain
No single neuron produces a thought or a behavior; anything the brain accomplishes is a vast collaborative effort between cells. When at work, neurons talk rapidly to one another, forming networks as they communicate. Researchers led by Rockefeller University’s Alipasha Vaziri are developing tech...
Winrich Freiwald wins Columbia University’s 2016 W. Alden Spencer Award
Winrich Freiwald, associate professor and head of the Laboratory of Neural Systems, has received the 2016 W. Alden Spencer Award. The prize, given by Columbia University, recognizes outstanding research contributions in the field of neuroscience. Freiwald shares the award with his long-time colla...
Study uncovers how cells organize the growth of their structural filaments
To take shape, to move and to reproduce, cells need internal scaffolding composed of slender filaments known as microtubules. Before the cell can use microtubules for these and other essential functions, it must first organize them into carefully crafted bundles, which become the basis for three ...
A possible explanation for why male mice tolerate stress better than females
The nerves we feel before a stressful event—like speaking in public, for example—are normally kept in check by a complex system of circuits in our brain. Now, scientists at Rockefeller University have identified a key molecule within this circuitry that is responsible for relieving anxiety. Intr...
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