Unit News

Professor Tomoyuki Takahashi has been named a 2022 International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) Academy Fellow.

A study has revealed how tau – a key protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease – impairs communication between neurons, providing new avenues for treatment.

A novel method that looks at the molecular composition of brain synapses has revealed three times more proteins than previously thought, finds research published in PNAS.

A study in mice and rat brains reveals how general anesthesia dampens high frequency brain activity by weakening synapses.

Microtubules and F-actin in presynaptic terminals

OIST Researchers have shown that the speed of neurotransmitter recycling at the synapse is determined by the refilling speed of vesicles.

In brain cells, neurotransmitters are carried inside “cellular vehicles”. OIST scientists elucidate the mechanisms behind the motion of these vehicles in mammalian synapses.

Researchers have identified the toxic mechanism at work during an overabundance of alpha-synuclein, a protein linked to Parkinson’s disease, in neurons.

Scientists create giant neural connections in culture for the first time.

Professor Tomoyuki Takahashi introduces a new way to measure the distance from voltage-gated channels to vesicles, and explains how this distance affects neural signaling precision and efficacy.

Researchers in the Cellular and Molecular Synaptic Function Unit discovered that the enzyme called Rho-kinase plays a critical role in the regulation of signal transmission between neurons.