This year, neuroscience researchers made important discoveries related to how neurodegeneration attacks the human brain, hooked cultured neurons up to machinery to teach them to play a video game, and more.

Dialing up the activity of a protein called SYK in the brain’s “janitors” could provide an avenue to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The Duke University cell biologist uses live-cell microscopy to reveal how brain cells rid themselves of damaged mitochondria and what goes wrong in neurodegenerative disease.

The APOE4 variant causes cholesterol buildup in the cells that make protective fatty sheaths for neurons, possibly helping explain its role in neurodegeneration.

The discovery of gene variants in cases of hereditary spastic dysplasia could provide a diagnosis to affected families where no genetic cause could be found before.

Damaged lysosomes are repaired by a lipid-based signaling pathway dubbed PITT that could be targeted to treat neurodegenerative disease, its discoverers say.

The MIT biologist studies how RNA molecules self-assemble and the role these accumulations may play in diseases such as ALS and Huntington’s.

Three prizes were awarded to six researchers working across the life sciences on cellular organization, protein structure, and the genetic underpinnings of a chronic sleep disorder.

The Middlebury College neuroscientist explores enzymes that affect brain cell development and neurodegeneration.

Low-intensity electrical stimulation allows older adults to better recall a list of words for at least a month following the treatment, a study finds, providing further evidence for the debated idea that electrical stimulation can enhance cognitive performance.

Maligned peptides such as the Alzheimer’s-associated amyloid precursor protein may have critical roles in the healthy brain.

The normal functions of peptides that aggregate in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s have been largely overlooked by scientists, but some argue that they are critical for understanding the development of disease.

Testing in animals and lab-grown cells suggests the experimental drug could enhance the function of lysosomes within cells.