The Synaptic Bases of Mental Diseases
22 February 2019
Camilla Bellone and Marie Schaer work in collaboration under the NCCR-Synapsy project. Camilla Bellone explores the use of animal models in social paradigms, to look at the causality between circuitry and mechanism and behaviour. Her recent work looks at dopaminergic Read more…
19 December 2018
Eleonora Rosina Highlight from the Bagni’s Lab Genes encoding for proteins involved in synaptic protein synthesis seem to contribute to the development of Autism Spectrum Disorders. They are now suspected as early biomarkers. Eleonora Rosina, a PhD student in Read more…
18 December 2018
Dopaminergic neurons of the VTA (green). Virus-infected neurons that can be inhibited to assess their effects on social behavior through chemogenetic approaches are in red. The level of infected dopamine neuron is about 50% (yellow). Highlight from the Bellone’s Read more…
Eye-tracking experience Each dot indicates the position of the gaze while viewing a video showing a child playing. Left : the blue dots are the areas targeted by a child with typical cerebral development. Right : the red dots are targeted by Read more…
18 October 2018
The NCCR-Synapsy played a key role in this initiative by the Swiss Federal Council, with two of its PIs – Prof. Marie Schaer and Prof. Stephan Eliez – coordinating the research project which proved the efficiency of early intervention on Read more…
30 August 2018
EPFL neuroscientists have found that the output synapses of certain interneurons in the cortex show long-term plasticity. This plasticity occurs during a critical period of brain development and might contribute to the experience-dependent rewiring of brain circuits. Interneurons inhibit the Read more…
13 August 2018
A significant debilitating factor for those afflicted with autism spectral disorders (ASD) is impairment of social communication. Now, a team of investigators from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Basel (UNIBAS), in Switzerland believe they have uncovered what happens in Read more…
1 March 2018
Each dot represents the gaze position for an individual child watching the movie. The blue dots on the left represent the typically developing toddlers. The red dots represent toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The face wasn’t blurred during the Read more…
30 November 2017
The Schizophrenia Research Unit has identified a common genetic mechanism for schizophrenia and autism, which induces impaired cognitive performance of the brain. The Schizophrenia Research Unit (URS) of the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (Prof. Kim Do-Cuénod) of the CHUV Department Read more…
