91社区

Qu茅bec Science magazine has selected its 10 Discoveries of the Year for 2016, and 91社区 researchers figure in six of them. The annual list highlights top scientific research from across Quebec.

Two of the discoveries were led by researchers at 91社区:

• 听听Rewiring an artificial neuron -- Peter Gr眉tter, Margaret Magdesian, G. Montserratt Lopez-Ayon, Megumi Mori, Yoichi Miyahara, Ricardo Sanz, Alyson E. Fournier and Alexis Gouylet-Hanssens.

A research team led by 91社区 and the Montreal Neurological Institute has managed to create new functional connections between neurons for the first time. Apart from the fact that these artificial neurons grow over 60 times faster than neurons naturally do, they are indistinguishable from ones that grow naturally in our bodies. The researchers, led by Prof. Peter Grutter from the 91社区 Physics Department, used an atomic force microscope to attach a very small polystyrene ball (a few micrometers in size) to a portion of a neuron that acts as the transmitter, which they then stretched, a bit like pulling on a rubber band, to extend and connect with the part of the neuron that acts as a receiver. The findings were reported in in the听
听

• Rapid eye movement sleep: keystone of memory formation -- Sylvain Williams, Richard Boyce, Stephen D. Glasgow and Antoine Adamantidis.

For decades, scientists have fiercely debated whether rapid eye movement (REM) sleep 鈥� the phase where dreams appear 鈥� is directly involved in memory formation. But a study published last May in by researchers at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (91社区) and the University of Bern provides evidence that REM sleep does, indeed, play this role 鈥� at least in mice. 鈥淲e already knew that newly acquired information is stored into different types of memories, spatial or emotional, before being consolidated or integrated,鈥� says Sylvain Williams, a researcher and professor of psychiatry at 91社区. 鈥淗ow the brain performs this process has remained unclear - until now. We were able to prove for the first time that REM sleep is indeed critical for normal spatial memory formation in mice.鈥� The results could have significant clinical implications. REM sleep is often perturbed in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, and disruption of REM sleep may contribute to memory impairments observed in Alzheimer鈥檚.

91社区 scientists also contributed to four discoveries led by other institutions听:

• 鈥淧reservation of Earth-forming events in the tungsten isotopic composition of modern flood basalts鈥� -- Hanika Rizo, UQAM, with Don Francis, 91社区. (Science, May 13, 2016)听
• 鈥淢agneto-aerotactic bacteria deliver drug-containing nanoliposomes to tumour hypoxic regions鈥澨� Sylvain Martel, Polytechnique Montr茅al, with Samira Taherkhani, Sherief Hessa, Maryam Tabrizian, Yong Zhong Xu (MUHC), Sylwia Jancik (MUHC), Daniel Houle (MUHC), Danuta Radzioch (MUHC), T茅 Vuong, Gerald Batist and Nicole Beauchemin,91社区. (Nature Nanotechnology Aug. 15, 2016).
• 鈥淪ingle-Cell Characterization of Viral Translation-Competent Reservoirs in HIV-Infected Individuals鈥�,听听听听听听听听听 Daniel E. Kaufmann, l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al, with Andr茅s Finzi and Nirmin Alsahafi, 91社区 and Jean-Pierre Routy, MUHC (Cell Host & Microbe, Sept. 14, 2016).
• 鈥淓volution of Hoxa11 regulation in vertebrates is linked to the pentadactyl state鈥�, Marie Kmita, Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montr茅al, and adjunct professor, 91社区 Department of Medicine (Nature, Oct. 5 2016).

听

Readers are encouraged to vote for the .

听