NCCR-Synapsy

The Synaptic Bases of Mental Diseases

Your brain’s connections exist in 8 dimensions

brain connections

How can we understand the insanely complex mess of information that’s constantly buzzing inside our brain? With 100 billion neurons in the average human brain, and 100 trillion connections between them, there isn’t an easy answer. Neuroscientists today use MRIs Read more…


The brain is full of multi-dimensional geometrical structures

Brain analysis

A team of researchers from the Swiss Blue Brain Project — a group focusing on supercomputer-powered reconstruction of the human brain — have used a classic branch of maths in a completely new way to better understand the structure of our brains. Read more…


Scientists discover hidden patterns of brain activity

brain activity

In a collaboration led by EPFL’s Blue Brain, scientists discover patterns of brain activity – never before observed – with the help of mathematics, providing insight into how neurons collectively process information. Brains of healthy rats that are the same Read more…


Pierre Magistretti wins 2016 IPSEN Neuronal Plasticity prize

Pierre Magistretti Ipsen prize

Professor Pierre Magistretti, from EPFL’s Brain Mind Institute, has been awarded the prestigious IPSEN Neuronal Plasticity prize for 2016. The 2016 Neuronal Plasticity prize is awarded jointly to Professor Pierre Magistretti, and another two world-renowned scientists, Professor David Altwell from Read more…


Modeling the brain’s energy with glia cells (astrocytes)

gliacells

Glial cells Scientists at EPFL, KAUST and UCL have created the first computer model of the metabolic coupling between neuron and glia, an essential feature of brain function. Confirming previous experimental data, the model is now being integrated into the Read more…