Science News about Basic Research

Mutant Gene Linked to Treatment-Resistant Depression

Science Update • December 13, 2004

A mutant gene that starves the brain of serotonin, a mood-regulating chemical messenger, has been discovered and found to be 10 times more prevalent in depressed patients than in control subjects, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Stress Impairs Thinking Via Mania-Linked Enzyme

Press Release • October 29, 2004

An errant enzyme linked to bipolar disorder, in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, impairs cognition under stress, an animal study shows.

Perceptual Decision-Making Hub Pinpointed in Human Brain

Press Release • October 18, 2004

A perceptual decision-making hub at the front of the brain makes the call on whether you’re looking at a face or a house — and likely many other things — scientists at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

NIMH Grant to Explore Genetics of Autism

Press Release • October 08, 2004

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced this week a 3-year, $3 million grant to Johns Hopkins University to study the genetic factors underlying autism.

New Learning Techniques Improves Global HIV/AIDS Prevention

Press Release • September 28, 2004

Researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found that advanced communication technologies — including multimedia CDs — can improve world-wide dissemination of new HIV/AIDS prevention models to providers of health services.

Rare Deficit Maps Thinking Circuitry

Press Release • September 01, 2004

Using brain imaging, neuroscientists at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have pinpointed the site of a defect in a brain circuit associated with a specific thinking deficit.

Schizophrenia Gene Variant Linked to Risk Traits

Press Release • August 11, 2004

Researchers at the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have identified a relationship between a small section of one gene, the brain chemical messenger glutamate, and a collection of traits known to be associated with schizophrenia.

Brain’s Reward Circuitry Revealed in Procrastinating Primates

Press Release • August 10, 2004

Using a new molecular genetic technique, scientists have turned procrastinating primates into workaholics by temporarily suppressing a gene in a brain circuit involved in reward learning.

Depression Traced to Overactive Brain Circuit

Press Release • August 02, 2004

Press Release August 2, 2004 Depression Traced to Overactive Brain Circuit A brain imaging study by the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found that an emotion-regulating brain circuit is overactive in people prone to depression — even when they are not depressed.

Imaging Study Shows Brain Maturing

Press Release • May 17, 2004

The brain's center of reasoning and problem solving is among the last to mature, a new study graphically reveals.

Research to Test Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia

Press Release • May 06, 2004

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a four-year, $9 million contract to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and five other academic medical centers to create a network of Treatment Units for Research on Neurocognition and Schizophrenia (TURNS).

Brain Signal Predicts Working Memory Prowess

Press Release • April 16, 2004

Some people are better than others at remembering what they have just seen—holding mental pictures in mind from moment to moment.

Making Sense of the Brain’s Mind-Boggling Complexity

Press Release • April 16, 2004

Leading scientists in integrating and visualizing the explosion of information about the brain will convene at a conference commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Human Brain Project (HBP).

Monkey Talk, Human Speech Share Left-Brain Processing

Press Release • January 29, 2004

Scans have pinpointed circuits in the monkey brain that could be precursors of those in humans for speech and language.

Emotion-Regulating Protein Lacking in Panic Disorder

Press Release • January 20, 2004

Three brain areas of panic disorder patients are lacking in a key component of a chemical messenger system that regulates emotion, researchers at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

Mental Illness Genetics Among Science’s Top “Breakthroughs“ for 2003

Press Release • December 22, 2003

Research on the genetics of mental illness, most of it NIMH-funded and much of it in the Institute’s own laboratories, was named the #2 scientific "breakthrough of the year" by Science magazine in its December l9, 2003, issue.

Mutant Gene Linked to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Press Release • October 23, 2003

Analysis of DNA samples from patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related illnesses suggests that these neuropsychiatric disorders affecting mood and behavior are associated with an uncommon mutant, malfunctioning gene that leads to faulty transporter function and regulation.

New Program Will Pursue Schizophrenia Gene Leads

Press Release • September 12, 2003

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced a new program expanding genetics research on schizophrenia in its own Bethesda, Maryland, laboratories.

Creation of New Neurons Critical to Antidepressant Action in Mice

Press Release • August 07, 2003

Blocking the formation of neurons in the hippocampus blocks the behavioral effects of antidepressants in mice, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Gene More Than Doubles Risk Of Depression Following Life Stresses

Press Release • July 17, 2003

Among people who suffered multiple stressful life events over 5 years, 43 percent with one version of a gene developed depression, compared to only 17 percent with another version of the gene, say researchers funded, in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

NIMH Awards $22.6 Million for Center for Collaborative Research on Mental Disorders

Press Release • July 01, 2003

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has funded a five-year, $22.6 million Center for Collaborative Genetic Studies on Mental Disorders at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Brain Cells Seen Recycling Rapidly To Speed Communications

Press Release • June 10, 2003

The tiny spheres inside brain cells that ferry chemical messengers into the synapse make their rounds much more expeditiously than once assumed, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded researchers have discovered.

Monkey's Memory Cells Caught in the Act of Learning

Press Release • June 05, 2003

NIH-funded scientists have detected direct evidence of individual brain cells signaling the formation of new memories.

Lithium Shows Promise Against Alzheimer’s in Mouse Model

Press Release • May 21, 2003

An enzyme crucial to formation of Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles may hold promise as a target for future medications, suggest studies in mice and cells.

NIH Awards Grants for Six New Autism Research Centers

Press Release • May 13, 2003

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded grants to support six new research centers of a major network focusing on the biomedical and behavioral aspects of autism.

Genes, Brain and Behavior Symposium April 16

Press Release • April 09, 2003

Prominent experts on genes, brain and behavior will discuss the impact of genomics on neuroscience in an all-day scientific symposium at the National Institutes of Health, April 16.

Telltale Protein Defects Mark Fragile X Pathways

Press Release • February 12, 2003

A team of scientists led by National Institute of Mental Health Health (NIMH) grantees has identified a trove of proteins involved in synaptic plasticity and neuronal growth—some of them likely implicated in mental retardation and perhaps other neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.

Human Gene Affects Memory

Press Release • January 23, 2003

NIH scientists have shown that a common gene variant influences memory for events in humans by altering a growth factor in the brain's memory hub.

Mouse Gene Knockout Illuminates How Light Resets Clock

Press Release • December 13, 2002

A key role in synchronizing daily rhythms to the day/night cycle has been traced to a light-sensitive protein in the eye, by knocking out the gene that codes for it.

Mimicking Brain’s “All Clear” Quells Fear in Rats

Press Release • November 06, 2002

Researchers funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered a high tech way to quell panic in rats.