Paul Greengard

If you, or someone you know, has Parkinson’s disease, mental health issues, or other neurological disorders, medication can often help. The bulk of these medications have been established based on the work of neuroscientist Paul Greengard from the Rockefeller University, who worked out just how the brain responds to neurotransmitters — the chemicals that help the brain signal. Most of what most neuroscientists know today about neurotransmission, and specifically the dynamics of slow synaptic transmission, is predicated on the work of Dr. Greengard. The interview features stories about his seminal research discoveries and his competitive streak in potato sack races.

Brain-wide pathway for waste clearance captured by contrast enhanced MRI

Helene Benveniste of Stony Brook University discusses the use of contrast-enhanced MRI to visualize the glymphatic system, a paravascular pathway that facilitates the clearance of waste and solutes from the cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid of the brain. Highlights:

• Glymphatic pathway function can be measured using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.
• Benveniste and colleagues used whole brain imaging to identify /confirm key features of the glymphatic pathway in rats.
• Many degenerative brain diseases are associated with the accumulation of proteins that form plaques (ie. Alzheimer’s disease). Clearance of these proteins is mediated by the glymphatic system.
• Contrast-enhanced MRI could potentially be used to evaluate 

Jeffrey Friedman

Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, of Rockefeller University, has been at the center of discovery of the molecular determinants of why we eat what we eat and, more importantly, why we eat so much of what we eat. Over the last three decades, now almost daily in the media, alarm has been sounded about the growing obesity epidemic. Dr. Friedman has spent his research career engaged in the discovery and characterization of leptin, one of the most important hormones regulating appetite and hunger.

iRHOM2 is a critical pathogenic mediator of inflammatory arthritis

Jane Salmon, Carl Blobel, Priya Darshinee Issuree, and Thorsten Maretzky of the Weill Cornell University Hospital for Special Surgery discuss the role of iRHOM2 in inflammatory arthritis. Highlights:

• TNF-α has been implicated in the pathology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other inflammatory diseases. RA patients are currently treated with TNF inhibitors, but these therapeutics have many deleterious side effects.
• iRHOM2 regulates the maturation of TACE, and enzyme that cleaves and releases TNF-α from the surface of myeloid cells that mediate inflammation during arthritis.
• Inactivation of the gene that encodes iRHOM2 (Rhbdf2) protects mice from inflammatory arthritis.
• These findings suggest that iRHOM2 could be a suitable therapeutic target for the treatment of RA.

CXCR5+ T helper cells mediate protective immunity against tuberculosis

Shabaana Khader of the University of Pittsburgh discusses the identification of immune parameters that distinguish active and latent TB infections. Highlights:

• One third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis; however, only 5-10% will develop active infections.
• Individuals with latent infections have a 10% lifetime risk of developing active tuberculosis. This risk increases to 10% per year in the presence of HIV infection. It is therefore important to identify immunologic features that distinguish active TB from latent.
• Granulomas are immune cell aggregates that are a hallmark of TB infection. They play a protective role in latent TB, but can promote infection during active TB.
• Using human, non-human primate, and mouse models of TB infection, Khader and colleagues identified a subset of T helper cells (CXCR5+) that are associated with protective granulomas in latent TB.
• These results identify a previously unexpected role for CXCR5 in the control of TB infection and could be used to improve TB vaccine strategies.