Ye Zhang

TL;DR: The authors' data provide clues as to how neurons and astrocytes differ in their ability to dynamically regulate glycolytic flux and lactate generation attributable to unique splicing of PKM2, the gene encoding the glycoleytic enzyme pyruvate kinase.

TL;DR: The development of an immunopanning method to acutely purify astrocytes from fetal, juvenile, and adult human brains and to maintain these cells in serum-free cultures is reported, finding that human astroCytes have abilities similar to those of murine astroicytes in promoting neuronal survival, inducing functional synapse formation, and engulfing synaptosomes.

TL;DR: The first, to the authors' knowledge, single cell whole transcriptome analysis of human adult cortical samples is described, establishing an experimental and analytical framework with which the complexity of the human brain can be dissected on the single cell level.

TL;DR: Despite the existence of significant heterogeneity among neoplastic cells, it is found that infiltrating GBM cells share a consistent gene signature between patients, suggesting a common mechanism of infiltration.

TL;DR: Evidence has accumulated that suggests heterogeneity of astrocytes across brain regions as well as within the same brain regions, which will greatly aid investigation of the function of astracytes in normal brain aswell as the roles of astrospecies in neurological disorders.