Lukens Lab News Today

February 11 makes the International Day of Women & Girls in Science.

February 11 is known as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Microglia may already play a key role in preventing neurodegenerative diseases by helping to remove toxic waste in the nervous system and promoting the healing of damaged areas.

Researchers have identified a protein that could be leveraged to help microglia in the brain stave off Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Many neurodegenerative diseases, or conditions that result from the loss of function or death of brain cells, remain largely untreatable.

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Microglia, immune cells disguised as brain cells, are known as the janitors of the brain. Dialing up their usual duties just enough could provide an avenue to treat neurodegenerative disease.