Navigation Links
Chemist receives NIH funding to unravel tricks of neuronal wiring
Date:12/29/2008

Joshua Maurer, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, has received a four-year, $1,216,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for research titled "Unraveling Development: New Materials for Understanding Neuronal Wiring."

Maurer's long term objective is to develop methodology that allows the study of a variety of neuronal wiring processes. He is starting by unscrambling a phenomenon known as midline crossing using zebrafish. During development, neurons from the right eye cross the midline of the brain to make a connection in the left hemisphere.

"Our goal is to build a substrate that looks like what a growing neuron would encounter in the brain as it goes from the eye to where it has to make its final connection in order to do a feedback response," Maurer explained. "We want to replicate the interactions (in the brain) on a glass surface by laying down a series of molecules with nanoscopic control. Then we can watch in real time, with a microscope, how a neuron is guided through this pattern."

Their findings could help explain more about the fundamentals of nerve damage and enable better nerve repair some day.

They are developing strategies that give "robust, stable" surfaces that can be studied for weeks. Current techniques give surfaces with limited stability, around 5 days. "We have recently published new patterning techniques that allow us to build protein patterns directly on glass and are just starting to meet our goals of building complex systems," Maurer said.

Traditionally, to elucidate a protein's role in a known pathway, scientists make a "knockout" animal by inactivating the gene that codes for the protein and observing the resulting effect in the animal. However, this technique cannot be used to study proteins involved in development because these proteins can have multiple functions.

"If you knock out a developmental protein, there is a potential that
'/>"/>

Contact: Tony Fitzpatrick
tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu
314-935-5272
Washington University in St. Louis
Source:Eurekalert

1

GOOD

Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. Clemson chemists discover new way antioxidants fight debilitating diseases
2. Computational actinide chemistry: Are we there yet?
3. Chemists get grip on slippery lipids
4. American Chemical Society calls green chemistry bill a smart step
5. Using green chemistry to deliver cutting-edge drugs
6. Good earth: Brown chemists show origin of soil-scented geosmin
7. Penn biochemist receives NIH New Innovators Award
8. Chemistry turns killer gas into potential cure
9. K-State chemistry professor to receive Masao Horiba award
10. Yale chemist receives NIH Young Investigator Award for antibody targeting
11. Biogeochemistry -- A window into the Earths ecological health
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
(Date:7/1/2009)...st study to date of endometriosis in pregnant wome...tor for premature birth, the 25th annual conferenc...d Embryology heard today (Wednesday July 1). Dr. H...ld Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden...ometriosis also had a higher risk of other pregnan...
(Date:6/30/2009)...hat cognitive function declines as we get older. M...ic kind of daily activities we engage in during th...ent of this decline. A team of researchers from Te...on of labour among honey bees affects their learni...e found that, by switching their social role, agin...
(Date:6/30/2009)...ysics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester...led them to the discovery of fluorescent silicon n...ake of drugs by the body,s cells. , Dr Klaus von...ethod is the independent control of the nanopartic... is extremely versatile and produces the fluoresce...
(Date:6/30/2009)...emy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have discov...iction involving the stomach hormone ghrelin. When...ol,s effects on the reward system are reduced. It ...herapies for addictions such as alcohol dependence...d American scientific journal Proceedings of the ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Women with endometriosis need special care during pregnancy to avoid risk of premature birth 2A young brain for an old bee 2University of Leicester researchers discover new fluorescent silicon nanoparticles 2Discovery may provide new treatments for alcohol dependence 2The U S Surgeon General Issues National Call to Action on Deep Vein Thrombosis 28DVT 29 and Pulmonary Embolism 28PE 29 26436 1The U S Surgeon General Issues National Call to Action on Deep Vein Thrombosis 28DVT 29 and Pulmonary Embolism 28PE 29 26436 2The U S Surgeon General Issues National Call to Action on Deep Vein Thrombosis 28DVT 29 and Pulmonary Embolism 28PE 29 26436 3The U S Surgeon General Issues National Call to Action on Deep Vein Thrombosis 28DVT 29 and Pulmonary Embolism 28PE 29 26436 4VA Partial Birth Abortion Infanticide Act Constitutional Should Be Upheld Argues Americans United for Life Brief 26434 1VA Partial Birth Abortion Infanticide Act Constitutional Should Be Upheld Argues Americans United for Life Brief 26434 2Rivulet Communications Announces New Technical Advisory Board and Initial Board Appointments 26432 1Rivulet Communications Announces New Technical Advisory Board and Initial Board Appointments 26432 2Rivulet Communications Announces New Technical Advisory Board and Initial Board Appointments 26432 3Cold and Lonely 3A Does Social Exclusion Literally Feel Cold 3F 26430 1Cold and Lonely 3A Does Social Exclusion Literally Feel Cold 3F 26430 2Cold and Lonely 3A Does Social Exclusion Literally Feel Cold 3F 26430 3
... theorists have in America be broken by the evolut...n evolutionist, makes the case for Darwin in The A...orting from the front lines of America,s struggle ...t UCL (University College London) on 16th November... State University, will argue that Intelligent Des...
...everyone in the United States could be grown inexp...plants, a University of Central Florida molecular ...ne produced in UCF professor Henry Daniell,s labor...lants survived lethal doses of anthrax administere...rs. The results of the NIH-funded study are featur...
...al green-algae gene into neurons of the tiny, tran... able to elicit specific behavioral responses by s...rk paves the way for better understanding of how n...es, to regulate behavior in intact, living organis... the activity and function of specific neurons dur...
...ew limits on the time when the most recent common ... -- the chimpanzees -- lived. Scientists at Arizo...he time of this split between 5 and 7 million year...evious collection of molecular and fossil studies,...to 13 million years ago. , The scientists analyzed...
Other Biology News:'Creationism is not science' ?making the case for Darwin at UCL 2Effective, safe anthrax vaccine can be grown in tobacco plants 2Effective, safe anthrax vaccine can be grown in tobacco plants 3Algal protein in worm neurons allows remote control of behavior by light 2Scientists narrow the time limits for the human and chimpanzee split 2Scientists narrow the time limits for the human and chimpanzee split 3
(Date:7/3/2009)... 3 Tomorrow, Corey Reic...attend both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angel...as a representative of the ALS Therapy Development...ball games to raise awareness of amyotrophic later...generative disease of which he suffers and for whi...
(Date:7/2/2009)...Newswire/ -- As many as five to ten million male...rder because they,re ashamed to admit they have th...ing and Anxiety Disorders . Healthcare profession...aware of the high-risk behaviors in males that may...intervention is often not available to the male po...
(Date:7/2/2009)... Executes Master Services Agreement Covering Hig...ons , Rochester, New York...c., a leader in advanced cardiac safety biomarker ...hat it has executed a master services agreement wi...Cardiac,s Highly Automated QT as well as Dynamic Q...
(Date:7/1/2009)... 1 Cellular Dynamics Internation...cant expansion of their existing agreement to test...o cause cardiotoxicity, or damage to heart tissue....afety testing in order to bring promising therapie..., CDI will supply purified cardiomyocytes, created...
Breaking Biology Technology:Bay Area Youth to Represent ALS Patients at Giants' and Angels' Baseball Games on July 4th 2Bay Area Youth to Represent ALS Patients at Giants' and Angels' Baseball Games on July 4th 3Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders Reports Need for Increasing Awareness of Eating Disorders in Males 2iCardiac Selected by Top 10 Pharmaceutical Company 2Cellular Dynamics International and Roche Expand Existing Cardiotoxicity Screening Agreement 2Cellular Dynamics International and Roche Expand Existing Cardiotoxicity Screening Agreement 3
...tless and bold innovation is about the only card A...o withstand the competitive threat posed by China,... in driving innovation, according to author and bu...dnesday of the merits of building an "innovation m...tives during the Wisconsin Innovates Conference in...
... commerce secretary Mary Burke said this week that...tax credits available to angel investors under the...unding increases would be contingent on the state,...tax credits from the $3 million allocated in the c...ipartisan support, the state made available $65 mi...
...nsin business executives gathered in Milwaukee to ...chnology can make their businesses more competitiv...y close, barriers remain. , ,The technologies were...tes Conference. Although presenters Alfonso Gutirr...on,s RFID Lab , and Lawrence Casper, UW-Madison,s ...
...son, Wis. The planned Wisconsin Institute for Di...to the University of Wisconsin-Madison: $50 millio...matched by $50 million from the Wisconsin Alumni R...ion has approved $50 million from the state as wel...e, chairman of the board of Cisco Systems and a UW...
Other Biology Technology:Peters: Innovation the only edge that remains for American business 2Burke would like to double Act 255 angel tax credits 2Executives hear about promise, limits of RFID and nanotech 2Executives hear about promise, limits of RFID and nanotech 3Executives hear about promise, limits of RFID and nanotech 4Morgridge gift enables phase one of Institute for Discovery 2
Request Info
Request Info
[14C(U)]-L-Amino Acid Mixture, 1mCi (37MBq) from PerkinElmer
Product Information Request - SuperSignal West Pico COMPLETE Biotinylated Protein Detection Kit from Pierce Biotechnology, Inc.
Biology Products: