A sustained collaborative effort from three very different laboratories, including a father-daughter scientific duo, has resulted in the observation that the neurotransmitter serotonin regulates energy levels in neurons with the help of Sirt1, a protein known for its role in ageing and lifespan regulation.

Depression leaves its mark not only in our ability to experience positive emotions, but also in our capacity to learn and form stable memories. A new study by researchers at the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, sheds light on the differences between how unipolar and bipolar depression can affect a person's capacity to update old memories with new information.

Zebrafish have the remarkable ability to regenerate their retinas upon damage, which makes them ideal candidates to study possible ways to restore vision following retinal injury. A new study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, has found a new mechanism via which epigenetic factors regulate retinal regeneration in zebrafish.

Several lines of evidence suggest that males and females differ in their biological response to stressful situations. A new study from researchers at IICT and CCMB, Hyderabad, explores one mechanism for this, demonstrating that the heterochromatin region of the Y-chromosome may contribute to the regulation of anxiety-like behaviour and stress response in male mice.

A recent large-scale study of almost four thousand Indian children found the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders to be nearly 12%. During the course of the study, the authors identified, developed and validated diagnostic tools for several of these disorders in the Indian context and have now made them available in the public domain for anyone to use.

Artificial light at night has become a staple part of city-living and is quickly encroaching into rural regions as well. Vinod Kumar's group at the IndoUS Center for Biological Timing, University of Delhi recently discovered that exposure to bright lights at night can affect the parts of the brain involved in mood and cognition and lead to depression-like symptoms, by using Indian crows as a model system.

Physical forces play a major role in how the cells in our brain grow and signal to each other. In a recent study, scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore, and University of Hyderabad developed a simple assay to show that neurons are shaped by attachment to the substrate underneath them.