Engineered Protein Reveals Our Brain's Hidden Lan...

What’s Happening

Alright so Learn more about the glue sniffer protein, which is able to detect brain cells incoming chemical signals, and what that means for neuroscience.

Studying the activity of brain cells has never been straightforward. The central nervous system is insanely complex, and unraveling the dense mesh of bioelectrical signaling inside is like trying to put an 85-billion-piece jigsaw puzzle together. (we’re not making this up)

One of the biggest challenges in this undertaking has been that researchers have before been able to measure only the signals that individual brain cells produce, not those they receive.

The Details

Now, a protein with a unusual name has given neuroscientists a look into the signals entering brain cells. : Brain Microchip Smaller Than a Grain of Salt Sends Data Using Lasers and Satellite Technology Creating the iGluSnFR4 Protein The carefully modified protein, developed by a team at the Allen Institute and the Janelia Research Campus at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, records the complex chemical signals that electrically active neurons use to communicate.

The most common of those chemicals is called glutamate. It’s essential for brain processes like thinking and memory.

Why This Matters

Because it detects the level of glutamate dropped by neurons, it has been called iGluSnFR4 (‘glue sniffer’). A new Nature Methods paper shows off the latest generation of glue sniffer protein, which overcomes significant barriers that previous versions faced. Tracing Signals In The Brain To understand why a tool like the glue sniffer has been so sought after in neuroscience, it’s important to understand how brain signaling works.

The scientific community tends to find developments like this significant.

The Bottom Line

These cells fire out electrical signals that travel down cable-like axons until they reach the neuron’s broadcast area, called a synapse, where they are converted into chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, like glutamate, which can ‘jump’ the gap between cells. What triggers that electrical and then chemical signal is much more complex: neurons receive neurotransmitter inputs from potentially thousands of other brain cells.

Is this a W or an L? You decide.