Researchers Repair Faulty Brain Circuits Using Nanotechnology

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)

Working with mouse and human tissue, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers demonstrate that a protein pumped out of some populations of immune cells in the brain plays a role in directing the formation of connections among neurons needed for learning and forming new memories. Because such connective networks are lost or damaged by neurodegenerative diseases or certain types of intellectual disability, the researchers say their findings advance efforts to regrow and repair the networks and potentially restore normal brain function.