Anton Maximov – The Synaptic Signatures of a Memory: Zooming in Using Cutting-Edge Technology
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Release Date: 05/06/2025
David Gutmann – Cancer Neuroscience and the Sociobiology of Brain Tumors
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Brain tumor cells interact with neurons, glial cells, and immune cells in complex ways that often benefit the cancer cells while compromising the function of normal neural cells. In this episode I talk with Washington University Neurology Professor David Gutmann about brain cancer cells and their communication with surrounding normal cells. A major component of Dr. Gutmann’s research program focuses on Neurofibromatosis a rare genetic disorder that causes non-malignant brain tumors as well as abnormal growth of cells in other organ systems. The disease results from loss-of-function...
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Ray Dorsey: Environmental Toxins and Parkinson’s Disease – Evidence and What to Avoid
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
There is considerable evidence that exposure to certain chemicals in the environment cause Parkinson’s disease in many people. In this episode neurologist Ray Dorsey talks about some of the chemicals that may cause Parkinson’s disease including the pesticides paraquat and rotenone, and trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene which are chemicals used for degreasing and dry-cleaning. LINKS Relevant journal articles: https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1474-4422%2825%2900287-X ...
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Ai Yamamoto: “ALFY” Cleanses Neurons of Pathological Proteins to Counteract Degenerative Diseases
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
A shared feature of neurodegenerative disorders is accumulation of aggregated proteins within neurons: Tau in Alzheimer’s disease; alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease; huntingtin in Huntington’s disease; and TDP43 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In this episode Ai Yamamoto – an Associate Professor Neurology at Columbia University – talks about the trail of discoveries that led to the identification of a protein called ALFY that can prevent and reverse the accumulation of such pathogenic proteins. Remarkably, her team and collaborators found that some people have a variant...
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Marco Capogrosso – Spinal Cord Stimulation for Recovery of Function After Stroke or Trauma
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Remarkable advances are being made in the development and clinical applications of stimulation devices that enable recovery of motor function in patients who have suffered a spinal cord injury, a stroke, and even those with rare disabling genetic disorders. At the forefront of this research is Marco Capogrosso at the University of Pittsburgh. He has shown that certain patterns of stimulation of sensory pathways in the spinal cord can activate motor neurons that were otherwise silenced by the injury or stroke. Initial clinical trials have shown that this approach results in recovery of...
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Dayu Lin: Neural Circuits and Neurochemicals for Aggression, Sexual, and Parental Behaviors
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Aggression, mating, and parenting are evolutionarily conserved social behaviors that enable survival and reproduction. Identifying neural circuits and neurotransmitters in the brain that control these behaviors is not only of academic interest, but may also lead to new approaches for reducing pathological aggression, child abuse, and other unwanted behaviors. Professor Dayu Lin at New York University has used cutting-edge technological approaches including chemogenetics and optogenetics combined with electrophysiology and behavioral analyses to identify the neural circuits and some of the...
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Scott Ayton: Iron, Brain Health, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Diseases – A Delicate Balance
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Dietary iron is essential for health as it plays important roles in the ability of hemoglobin to carry oxygen throughout the body and brain. In addition, iron is involved in various functions in cells including the generation of ATP in mitochondria and DNA synthesis. The vast majority of iron is bound to proteins such as ferritin and heme. However, in its ionic form (Fe2+) iron can react with the hydrogen peroxide produced from mitochondrial superoxide radical to generate the highly toxic hydroxyl radical. Hydroxyl radical damages DNA and can also act on the carbon=carbon double bonds in...
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Erik Musiek: Brain Cell Circadian Clock Proteins in Neuroplasticity, Aging, and Alzheimer’s Disease
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Health depends upon proper regulation of circadian rhythms of cell and organ functions. Disruption of circadian rhythms has detrimental consequences for brain function and resilience and abnormal circadian rhythms are a common feature of Alzheimer’s disease. In this episode neurology professor Erik Musiek talks about the roles of specific circadian clock proteins in neurons and glial cells in brain health and Alzheimer’s disease. His research is revealing the ways in which these circadian regulatory proteins affect brain cell functions and how disruption of circadian rhythms may contribute...
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Georgia Hodes: Sex Differences in Responses to Stress and Vulnerability to Neurological Disorders
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Chronic uncontrolled stress is a risk factor for many different diseases including mental and neurodegenerative disorders. The effects of such stress on the brain differ considerably between females and males. However, the vast majority of preclinical studies in animal models have included only males which in some cases has resulted in therapeutic interventions that are less effective in females compared to males. In this episode Georgia Hodes talks about sex differences in the effects of stress on the brain and neuroendocrine systems and how these differences can influence disease processes...
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Marian Joëls and Ron de Kloet: How the Brain Responds to Stress in Health and Mental Disorders
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
In stressful situations the brain communicates with the adrenal glands stimulating them to release adrenaline and cortisol. This stress responsive neuroendocrine system plays important adaptive roles by regulating energy metabolism, attention, and learning and memory. However, without a recovery period chronic uncontrolled stress such as psychosocial stress can damage neural circuits in the brain and contribute to a range of mental disorders as well as Alzheimer’s disease. In this episode I have the pleasure of talking with two pioneers in the field of stress research – Professors...
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Josh Helman: Multipronged Approaches for Preventing and Treating Alzheimer’s Dementia
Brain Ponderings podcast with Dr. Mark Mattson
Clearly demonstrated as being effective for cardiovascular disease, lifestyle medicine is becoming an important discipline for the prevention and treatment of age-related brain disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In this episode I talk with Dr. Josh Helman about his experience working with patients at lifestyle medicine centers. He provides his views on what people can do now to reduce their risk for these brain disorders, and what the future holds in terms of therapeutic interventions. LINKS Dr. Helman’s webpage: https://drjosh.com/ Lifestyle medicine...
info_outlineRemarkable progress has been made towards understanding of the molecular control of neurotransmitter release from presynaptic axon terminals and the responses of the postsynaptic neuron by neurotransmitters. We know that synaptic activity is required for learning and memory but the structural basis of a memory (an engram) remains unknown. Anton Maximov has made major contributions to understanding the molecular control of synaptic plasticity associated with learning and memory. Here he talks about his research career journey which began in St. Petersburg Russia followed by postdoc training in Dallas Texas and then to the Scripps Research Institute where he is currently a professor and chair of the Neuroscience Department. He and his team and collaborators recently published an elegant technologically-demanding study in Science in which nanoscale resolution ultrastructural analyses was combined with molecular tagging of neurons encoding a memory revealing an increase in synaptic complexity with intriguing presynaptic structural remodeling.
LINKS
Anton Maximov Lab page: https://www.maximovlab.org/
Science article
https://www-science-org.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.ado8316
Structural diversity of chemical synapses:
https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2211-1247%2821%2900267-9
Experience dependent neuron remodeling
https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0896-6273%2814%2900800-9