Vanderbilt University researchers have uncovered a surprising finding that could lead to the development of new, more effective therapies for schizophrenia, which affects more than 2 million Americans.

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a novel mechanism for the development of dendritic spines – sites of nerve cell communication.

Vanderbilt researchers have developed tools to probe the role of the essential metal manganese in neurons, and which offer a started point for developing therapeutic agents for manganese-related neurological disorders.

Developmental biologist Chin Chiang, Ph.D., and his colleagues have discovered that Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum act as central regulators of neuronal development.

In an effort to understand how neurons develop different “architectures,” Vanderbilt developmental biologists have discovered a genetic switch that controls one type of neuron branching in the nematode worm.

The protein Syk is essential for clearing away neuron “corpses” in the developing peripheral nervous system.

Inhibitory neurons that connect and regulate signaling in the brain (interneurons) may contribute to epilepsy and autism in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex.