Can Boosting Brain Cells Appetites Fight Disease?

New findings reported in the journal Nature Chemical Biology show how an innovative microscope technique can help researchers see what’s going on inside brain cells as they clear out protein buildup. Abnormal amounts of protein buildup are seen deep inside the brains of people with dementia and Lou Gehrig’s disease. The new discoveries offer the potential to find new medicines that boost the protein-clearing cleanup process. The researchers focused on a crucial cell-cleaning process called autophagy, where cells bundle unwanted materials up, break them down and push the waste products out. The lead author of the study says that the findings, and the success of the new microscope technique, are encouraging because it allowed scientists to see that increased autophagy was directly related to improved cell survival. To read more about this study, click here.