Temporal and spatial control of synaptic patterning: from basic mechanisms to human-specific innovations and diseases (SYNET)

Neurons connect to each other through so-called synapses, which stand at the core of brain function. How nerve cells connect to each other appropriately during development is of paramount importance to understand human brain function and diseases. While neuroscientists have started to understand early brain development, the question of how the 10 billion synapses of the human brain are specified and connected remains a key and fascinating challenge in modern neuroscience. The SYNET team includes five research groups, all specialized in brain development, and proposes to start a new concerted effort to uncover still unknown mechanisms of what controls where and when synapses are made specifically between nerve cells. SYNET proposes to pool expertise and approaches from different model systems (flies, mice, human stem cells) and apply cutting-edge techniques to focus on synapse development and function. It will focus on mechanisms that are thought to be common to all animal species, but also try to uncover some of the human-specificity of synaptogenesis, which could shed new light on human brain evolution as well as synaptic defects causing neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability.