New study on balancing synaptic strength in Nature Communications
This multidisciplinary work led by Marieke Meijer (Amsterdam UMC - FGA) describes how tomosyns limit synaptic strength at rest to equalize synaptic transmission during activity.
News
New disease concept for STXBP1 disorder and disease prediction tool
A collaboration between CNCR-FGA and University of Heidelberg shows that protein instability is the generalizable, primary cause. A new prediction tool outperforms all existing predictors. The paper is out now in Biological Psychiatry.
New disease mechanism discovered for SYT1-associated disorder
Neurotransmitter release is less synchronized in SYT1-associated disorder, according to a new study from the Cornelisse lab.
Polderman & Posthuma publish largest twin study ever
The study analyzed the results from 2,748 studies, containing nearly 18,000 human traits, and is based on information from more than 14.5 million twin pairs. The study is published on May 18, in the leading journal Nature Genetics.
Study identifies biological mechanisms for psychiatric disorders
Psychiatric disorders – such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression – share genetic risk factors related to histone methylation (involved in DNA regulation) and immune function. This finding is a result of a large international study, including researchers from the VU/VUmc, in which they analyzed genetic data from over 60,000 individuals.
PhD Emmeke Aarts scores publication in Nature Neuroscience
Aarts et al. propose using multilevel analysis as a solution to dependency between observations often seen in biological neuroscience data.
CNCR PhD students win NWO Brain & Cognition award
NWO Brain & Cognition awarded Anke Hammerschlag and Sabine Mous from the Complex Trait Genetics group for best integrated project on “An Integrative Theory of the Genetically Mediated Neural Substrates of ADHD‚. Watch their creative, musical presentation on youtube.
Neuromarketing with impact
Victor Lamme delivered an entertaining and thought provoking keynote lecture on "The science and adventure of neuromarketing".
CNCR scientists receive millions for top-research
Danielle Posthuma (FALW & VUmc) and Huib Mansvelder (FALW) both receive a prestigious Vici grant (NWO). They are two out of eight VU and VUmc top-scientists to receive 1,5 million euro each for conducting research for the following five years.
Research on the role of CYFIP1 gene leads to Neuron paper
Joint effort of CNCR researchers Ka Wan Li, Danielle Posthuma, Guus Smit and researchers from Leuven University (Belgium) shed new light on the role of the CYFIP1 gene. This gene has been linked to various neurological disorders, including intellectual disability, autism and schizophrenia.
CNCR scientists participate in Human Brain Project
Early October, the Human Brain Project – an EU Flagship initiative in which over 80 partners will work together - was launched. The initiative will realize a new "ICT-accelerated" vision for brain research and its applications. The VU-CNCR is one of the partners. Sabine Spijker, Guus Smit and Huib Mansvelder participate in this research.
Brain-Train Conference in Japan
CNCR collaborators, who took part in the Brain-Train project, attended the Neuroscience Brain Train Conference at the Riken Center for Life Science Technologies in Japan.
Study trip to Cambridge 2013
VU Neuroscience master students attended attended ‘Ion Channels in Health and Disease: a symposium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Nobel Prize awarded to Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley’.
Get connected via LinkedIn!
CNCR company page available now. Get connected and stay in touch with colleagues and alumni.
Christiaan Levelt benoemd tot hoogleraar bij CNCR
Christiaan Levelt is per 1 augustus 2013 benoemd als hoogleraar in de ‘Moleculaire en cellulaire mechanismen van corticale ontwikkeling en plasticiteit’. Hij is benoemd vanwege de Stichting het Vrije Universiteitsfonds. De leerstoel is ingebed bij de afdeling Moleculaire en Cellulaire Neurobiologie.
Andrea Goudriaan et al publish in Schizophrenia Bulletin
Andrea Goudriaan and colleagues show that sets of genes involved in specific glial function are associated with the risk to develop schizophrenia. They used genomewide association (GWA) data from 13,689 schizophrenic patients and 18,226 controls from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and the Swedish Schizophrenia sample.
VU Research Fellowship for Matthijs Verhage and Claudia Persoon
Matthijs Verhage was honoured as a top researcher and awarded with a VU University Research Fellowship during the opening of the new Academic Year on 2 September 2013. He appointed Claudia Persoon as his Fellow student.
Novel genetic risk variants for schizophrenia detected
An international group of scientists including researchers of the CNCR have detected 22 independent genetic risk variants for schizophrenia. Thirteen of these have never been reported before. In addition, these novel results point to an enrichment of significant findings in genes that influence L-type calcium channels.
CNCR researchers publish new tool to study the mind
CNCR and NIN researchers publish the "Amsterdam Resting-State Questionnaire". By quantifying thoughts and feelings, the tool bridges the missing link between conscious experiences and brain activity during rest.
Study reveals genetic overlap between multiple mental disorders
CNCR researchers collaborated on a ground breaking study, revealing genetic similarity between different mental disorders. The study is the first to demonstrate such a link. It was published online in Nature Genetics on August 11, 2013.
NWO Rubicon for Rogier Poorthuis
Rogier Poorthuis, PhD student at the department of Integrative Neurophysiology, receives a Rubicon grant from the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). He will join the group of Johannes Letzkus at the MPI for Brain Research in Frankfurt.
Research Talent – CRIMI has started
'Critical Minds' (CRIMI) will use criticality theory and mental training to understand the dynamics of mind wandering in healthy subjects and patients with major depressive disorder. The PhD project is funded by a "Research Talent" grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (MaGW, NWO) to Klaus Linkenkaer-Hansen (PI) and earmarked for Mona Irrmischer.
Toonen and Schmitz publish in The Journal of Cell Biology
Ruud Toonen and Sabine Schmitz (FGA) publish in the june 2013 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology. The results on the organization of presynaptic terminals originate from a fruitful collaboration with the group of Prof. Casper Hoogenraad (Utrecht University).
CNCR Researchers publish in Science
A worldwide consortium of medical researchers and social scientists found that tiny differences across a person’s genetic sequences are associated with the educational level.
Jorim Tielbeek and colleagues receive NWO Research Talent grant
Jorim Tielbeek, Arne Popma (PI), Theo Doreleijers, Henning Tiemeier, Tinca Polderman and Danielle Posthuma received the prestigious NWO Research Talent grant. Their research proposal is entitled 'From gene to mean. A neuroimaging genetics study on functional gene sets involved in endophenotypes of antisocial behaviour'.
M. van der Knaap and colleagues publish in The Lancet Neurology
An international consortium led by Prof. Marjo van der Knaap and Prof. Frédéric Sedel (Paris) published this high impact research report on May 22 2013. The study reveals the link between autosomal-recessive CLCN2 mutations and an emerging group of leukoencephalopathies affecting brain ion and water homoeostasis, being characterised by intramyelinic oedema.
Sophie van der Sluis receives NWO Vidi grant
With the grant, CNCR scientist Van der Sluis will build her own research line.
Sabine Spijker lands 3.3 M€ grant for Marie Curie consortium
Prof. Sabine Spijker successfully applied for an Innovative Doctorate Programme, funded by the EU Marie Curie agency. The consortium she will coordinate runs under the title "CognitionNet". A total of 14 doctorate students will be guided towards their graduation in the coming years.
NWO Rubicon for Martine Groen
Thanks to the grant, Groen will be doing research at University College London for two years.
Sander Groffen receives NWO-middelgroot grant
NWO has granted funding for the purchase of research equipment and the development of data collections. The total investment amounts to 6.5 million euros. 15 grant applications were honored.
Sophie van der Sluis publishes in Plos Genetics
Van der Sluis et al. propose new statistical tool that allows researchers to identify genes associated with multiple phenotypes
CNCR and NCA researchers discover a new autism-related syndrome
CNCR and NCA researchers discover a new autism-related syndrome by combining clinical and fundamental research
CNCR scientists contribute to Human Brain Project
Guus Smit, Huibert Mansvelder and Sabine Spijker will contribute to the Human Brain Project, one of it's two EU FET Flagship projects. The project will receive 1 billon euros, the biggest research cash award ever granted within the EU.
Improved method enables optical probing of neuronal activity
CNCR researchers Adrian Negrean and Huib Mansvelder take a significant step forward in recording neuronal membrane potentials from sub-cellular structures. Their findings are published in PNAS.
NWO Rubicon for Natalia Goriounova en Arthur de Jong
The recently graduated researchers will use the grant to gain research experience abroad.
Rogier Poorthuis en Bernard Bloem provide Cerebral Cortex Cover
Function of nicotinic receptors uncovered: Rogier Poorthuis and Bernard Bloem, PhD students at the department of Integrative Neurophysiology, published on the mechanisms by which nicotinic acetylcholine receptors regulate synaptic circuits and neuronal excitability in the prefrontal cortex. They show that these processes markedly differ across cortical layers. A 3D illustration of the layered prefrontal cortical network is now selected to be on the cover of Cerebral Cortex
Rhea van Bospoort scores paper in The Journal of Cell Biology
Despite the importance of dense core vesicle release in brain signalling, not much is known about the release mechanisms. To investigate how DCVs are released, van de Bospoort et al. designed a fluorescent probe to monitor the release of individual DCVs from hippocampal neurons in vitro.
Christiaan de Kock receives NWO-ALW Open Competition grant
Christiaan de Kock receives NWO-ALW Open Competition grant for a PhD-project to study the cellular basis of cognitive performance.
Matthijs Verhage wins ERC Advanced Grant
Matthijs Verhage, head of the Functional Genomics Department of CNCR, receives an ERC Ideas Advanced Grant. He will study the secretion of neuropeptides and other signaling molecules from neurons in the brain. The project will run for 5 years.
Cerebral Cortex Cover for Christiaan de Kock
Collaboration between CNCR and Max Planck Florida Scientists created the first realistic three-dimensional diagram of a thalamocortical column in the rodent brain.
Student of the year: Masterstudent Neuroscience Jorim Tielbeek
During the opening of the new Academic Year on 3 september 2012, the StudenTalentprice went to Masterstudent Neuroscience Jorim Tielbeek. With the price, Tielbeek won coverage of one year on tuition fees.
Symposium 10 years Functional Genomics / CNCR
In September 2002, the Functional Genomics department of Prof. Verhage was founded at VU/VUmc. During this time, Functional Genomics has grown from 10 people to approximately 45 to date.
CNCR researchers win two out of three ENP 2012 poster prices
The awards, known as the Gerard de Boer price, where handed out to Master student Martijn Sierksma and PhD-student Arthur de Jong. Their posters where selected from a field of 65 competitors. Winners receive a one-year subscription to Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Lifting the curse of the clinical cut-off
Enhancing the power to identify genes causing phenotypic variation
NIN-CNCR collaboration publishes in Nature Neuroscience
The exact metabolic cost for a single action potential and in particular in the context of ongoing electrical activity were unclear, but new research has now shown that the costs are high and in addition highly specific for different neuronal compartments.
Rhiannon Meredith supplies cover for Cerebral Cortex journal
The cover image shows the connectivity between layer 5 pyramidal neurons in slice preparation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of a developing mouse brain. Each cluster was filled with biocytin revealing cell soma location and dendritic branching patterns.
Dendritic position determines pre-synaptic strength.
Arthur de Jong, PhD-student at Functional Genomics, publishes in Journal of Cell Biology.
Sabine Spijker benoemd tot hoogleraar bij CNCR
Sabine Spijker is per 1 maart 2012 benoemd als hoogleraar in de ‘Moleculaire mechanismen van cognitie in het kader van neuropsychiatrische aandoeningen’.
New Light Shed on Munc18’s Role in Synaptic Transmission
Marieke Meijer, PhD student at Functional Genomics, publishes in The EMBO Journal.
NWO grant for ‘integrative brain theory’
The proposal “Multi-level criticality as a principle of information processing: Towards an integrative theory of neuronal avalanches and oscillations‚ by Klaus Linkenkaer-Hansen was awarded with a grant of 213.532 € from the Physical Sciences, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Vrije Competitie, Exacte Wetenschappen, NWO).
