At Texas A&M AgriLife Research, a new branch of brain science is blooming at the molecular scale — with nanoflowers.

A study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry demonstrated that nanoflowers — a type of metallic flower-shaped nanoparticle — can protect and heal brain cells by promoting the health and turnover of mitochondria, the molecular machines responsible for producing most of our cells’ energy.

These findings suggest a promising new approach to neurotherapeutics that targets the underlying mechanisms of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, rather than just managing symptoms.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) are a type of RNA molecule that do not carry instructions to make proteins. Instead, they influence how other genes are expressed. There are tens of thousands of lncRNAs in the human body, many of which are active in specific tissues or diseases like cancer. However, figuring out exactly what they do has been a major challenge. Now, a team of researchers has found that lncRNAs seem to regulate gene expression in a coordinated manner that had not been seen before.