New studies reveal that small, membrane-bound particles transported between cells have wide-ranging and long-term effects in the brain and throughout the body, from helping neurons communicate to passing the effects of stress onto the next generation.

Advances in understanding adolescent brain development may aid future treatments of mental illness and alcohol and substance use disorders. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2018, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health. 

Promising findings from preclinical animal studies show the potential of gene therapy for treating incurable neurological disorders. In new research presented today, scientists successfully used gene therapy to slow the progression and improve symptoms of disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

While solitary confinement is an extreme example affecting a relatively small portion of the population, social isolation and persistent loneliness are a growing problem in the United States.

Neuroscientists are developing a clearer picture than ever before of how the animal brain processes social information, from status and competitive advantage in a group to the calls and vocalizations of peers.

Excessive stress during fetal development or early childhood can have long-term consequences for the brain, from increasing the likelihood of brain disorders and affecting an individual’s response to stress as an adult to changing the nutrients a mother may pass on to her babies in the womb.

Lisa Giocomo, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Christopher Harvey, PhD, assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School Department of Neurobiology, have been selected to receive this year’s Young Investigator Award.

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will present the Julius Axelrod Prize to Stephen Waxman, MD, PhD, of Yale University.

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has named Vikram Gadagkar, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Jesse H. Goldberg’s lab at Cornell University, and Johannes Kohl, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Catherine Dulac's lab at Harvard University, as the recipients of this year’s Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award.

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) will award the Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience to Marley Kass, PhD, of Rutgers University.