1. Home
  2. New microscope designed to reveal the function of individual genes in the brain

New microscope designed to reveal the function of individual genes in the brain

 
Changes in gene activity are fundamental to many neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the nature of the genes affected, the time and place in which these changes occur, or the impact of these changes on nerve cells, remain largely unknown. One of the reasons for this ignorance is the inability to tag individual genes and their products without disrupting normal cell functions. An international team from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, the University of Birmingham, the Wigner Institute in Budapest and Femtonics Ltd. now aim to close this gap in methodology. The European Union supports the project with a Horizon 2020 grant, worth more than four million Euros.

Many diseases also have a genetic component. For example, gene mutations can lead to the development of cancer or psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression or autism. Most of these diseases seem to be caused not by a single mutation but are rather the result of the interplay of dozens, maybe even hundreds of altered gene functions. It would therefore be of great benefit for the investigation, diagnosis and therapy of these illnesses, to identify the affected genes and monitor their activity in the brain of the living organism.

An interdisciplinary team around Herwig Baier from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Attila Sik from the University of Birmingham, Miklós Veres from the Wigner Institute and the microscope developers at Femtonics Ltd. aim to develop such a method. (more)

 

 

16. September 2016 - 12:25