NEI Research News

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have uncovered a brain circuit in primates that rapidly detects faces.

Faces of familiar individuals with whom one has frequent social interactions with are learned in the basal ganglia region (specifically the tail part of the striatum) through the same neural mechanisms that recognize the value of objects.

Three Kavli laureates, with their work on neocortical specialization for face recognition, have provided basic principles of neural organization, which will further our understanding of recognition of objects and scenes.

Led by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a team of scientists has uncovered the complex molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disorders linked to the gene PNPLA6.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School investigated brain development to understand how different areas of the brain become specialized in handling information such as vision, sound, touch and planning.

Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine have shown that intrinsically-photosensitive retinal ganglion cells use two different pathways at the same time to transmit electrical “vision” signals to the brain.

Scientists have identified a protein in the visual system of mice that appears to be key for stabilizing the body’s circadian rhythms by buffering the brain’s response to light.

In a comparative analysis across animals of the many cell types in the retina, researchers concluded that most cell types have an ancient evolutionary history.

In a set of 10 papers in Nature, a network of researchers unveiled an atlas cataloging the location and type of every cell in the adult mouse brain.

The discovery will enable researchers to better understand eye movement disorders that cause significant visual impairment.