What makes the brain tick so fast?

Surprisingly complex interactions between neurotransmitter receptors and other key proteins help explain the brain's ability to process information with lightning speed, according to a new study. Scientists at Oxford, Liverpool and McGill universities combined experimental techniques to examine fast-acting protein macromolecules, known as AMPA receptors, which are a major player in brain signalling. Their findings are reported online in the journal  Neuron . These simulations are effectively a computational microscope that allow us to examine the motions of these proteins in very high detail. Professor Philip Biggin, Department of Biochemistry - Understanding how the brain signals information is a major focus of neuroscientists, since it is crucial to deciphering the nature of many brain disorders, from autism to Alzheimer's disease. A stubborn problem, however, has been the challenge of studying brain activity that switches on and off on the millisecond time scale. To tackle this challenge, the research teams in the UK and Canada combined multiple techniques to examine the atomic structure of the AMPA receptor and how it interacts with its partner or auxiliary proteins.