J. Tabitha Hees receives NWO Veni grant
J. Tabitha Hees has been awarded an NWO Veni grant for her project ‘Uncovering Neuronal Protein Synthesis Hotspots: From mRNA Transport to Translation’
News
The intensity of a threatening experience shapes synaptic changes on cortical engram cells
A new study by the Memory Circuits and Molecular Engram teams, published in Nature Communications, reveals that memory-encoding cortical neurons functionally contribute to remote memory retrieval after a mild, but not strong, aversive event.
Janina Kupke receives NWO Veni grant
Dr. Janina Kupke has been awarded an NWO Veni grant for her project 'Bridging the epigenome and the synapse: resolving how memories persist'
Alzheimer Nederland Research Talent award for Kim de Kleijn and Femke Feringa
This week Kim de Kleijn and Femke Feringa were surprised by Alzheimer Nederland as winners of the Alzheimer Nederland Research Talent award.
Identification of protein signatures in memory encoding synapses
A recent study from the Molecular Engrams team at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology (MCN), published in Science Advances, has identified experience-dependent protein expression signatures in memory encoding synapses within the hippocampus.
Stress reshapes brain circuits to drive overeating
A recent study led by Laura Supiot (FGA, CNCR) has been published in Nature Communications. The Neuromodulation of Cognition team, alongside collaborators from UMC Utrecht, identified a complex neural circuit indispensable for stress-induced eating.
Alzheimer’s drug development grants for three CNCR investigators
Three CNCR teams have been awarded a research grant under the ZonMw program “promising innovative therapies for Dementia”. With these grants, and in collaboration with their partners at the Amsterdam Institute of Molecular and Life Sciences (AIMMS) and the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam, the researchers will develop novel small-molecule interventions for Alzheimer’s disease.
Neurospector joins European consortium to advance drug repurposing for rare neurological disorders
Ruud Toonen and Claudia Persoon have joined an European collaborative project, subsidized by the dutch research council (ZonMw), focused on accelerating therapeutic development for rare neurodevelopmental disorders through drug repurposing strategies.
iSNARE consortium coordinated by CNCR receives funding for 3 years to develop intervention strategies for SNAREopathies
Seven partners from 6 countries including FGA and ESCO will develop new strategies using cellular assays based on IPSC-derived patient neurons and biomarker analyses.
Molecular Neurodegeneration lab publishes in Science Advances on neuronal resilience in the face of tau pathology
A recent study from the Molecular Neurodegeneration lab led by Wiep Scheper (FGA) has been published in Science Advances. In this work first author Jasper Smits and colleagues from FGA and MCN elucidated a previously unknown intrinsic resilience mechanism against tau aggregation in neurons.
Modifying gene concept demonstrated in new study by Kovacevic et al. (FGA)
Brain disorders caused by mutations in single genes often present unexplained large symptom diversity. The new study shows that non-linear genetic interactions between two or more functionally related genes, STXBP1 and SNAP25, causes extreme phenotypic diversity. The study is published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Tracking signaling molecule mobility reveals brain information processing
Networks of nerve cells in our brain process information at high speed. Some cells transfer more than 100 signals per second to the next cell in the circuit by contact points between them, the synapses. Neuroscientists from the CNCR discovered how mobility of molecules on the receiving side of synapses support information processing.
ERC Consolidator Grant to Natalia Goriounova
The European Research Council (ERC) awarded neuroscientist Natalia Goriounova a Consolidator Grant for the HumanCircuits project. Goriounova will study neurons in living tissue from the human brain.
Early Career Grant for Douglas Wightman
Douglas Wightman has been awarded an Early Career award by Alzheimer Nederland
Recent genetic changes shaped the human brain, and its vulnerabilities
A new study reconstructs the evolutionary timelines of human brain, cognition, and behavioral traits, revealing when key genetic variants influencing intelligence and psychiatric vulnerability emerged.
Hersenstichting grant for Wiep Scheper (Molecular Neurodegeneration lab, FGA)
The Hersenstichting has awarded prof. dr. Wiep Scheper of the Molecular Neurodegeneration lab at FGA with €500.000 to follow up their research on Granulovacuolar degeneration bodies (GVBs). GVBs are found in a subset of neurons with early tau pathology in the brain of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and tau-related frontomporal dementias.
VIDI grant awarded to Max Koppers (FGA)
Max Koppers (FGA) was awarded a VIDI grant from NWO for his project ‘Local regulation of brain connectivity’ to investigate the role of mRNA localization and local protein production in synapse formation.
Introducing the Neurolipid Atlas: a new resource for brain lipid research and neurodegenerative diseases published in Nature Metabolism
Altered lipid metabolism in the brain is a key feature of many neurodegenerative diseases, yet comparing lipid data across studies has remained a challenge. To address this, Femke Feringa and Sascha Koppes-den Hertog from the dementia discovery team of Rik van der Kant (FGA-CNCR) together with the lipidomics and metabolomics team of Martin Giera at the LUMC in Leiden have developed the Neurolipid Atlas (available at neurolipidatlas.com).
ParkinsonFonds grant for Neurospector team
Stichting ParkinsonFonds awarded €355.710,00 to Prof. Ruud Toonen (FGA & Neurospector) to advance research on genetic forms of Parkinson’s disease.
NWO-XS grants for Sanne Beerens and Janina Kupke
Two postdoctoral researchers from the MCN lab have each been awarded an NWO-XS grant to investigate how synapses on engram neurons (the specific brain cells that store a memory) change to stabilize or modify memories.
Michel van den Oever receives NWO Open Competition M2 grant
The M2 project is a collaboration with the lab of Dr. Krugers at the UvA. Together, they will investigate how stress hormone levels affect the synaptic and molecular properties of engram neurons, and thereby the specificity of a memory.
New study on secretion principles published in JCB
A new study by Fiona Murphy & team (FGA/MCN) on how different components of the secretion machinery work together to bind/recruit key lipids, is now published in Journal of Cell Biology.
Prof. Dr. Matthijs Verhage Honored with the 2025 Innovative Research Award
We are thrilled to announce that Prof. Dr. Matthijs Verhage, head of the department of Functional Genomics and a founder of the European STXBP1 Consortium (ESCO), has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Innovative Research Award by the STXBP1 Foundation.
Peptidergic control of the brain’s stress system modulates anxiety
In a new study published in Science Advances, Dr. Danai Riga and colleagues explored how the brain’s built-in peptidergic systems help regulate its response to stress
Queen Máxima opens ADORE Research building
On Wednesday, May 14, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands officially opened the ADORE Research and Diagnostics Centre in Amsterdam. This cutting-edge facility, an initiative of Amsterdam UMC, brings together Neuroscientists and Oncology researchers, making it the largest onco-neuro campus worldwide.
First patient completes new trial to test brain-cholesterol lowering Alzheimer’s medication
The existing HIV medication Efavirenz may potentially also be effective for Alzheimer’s patients by lowering cholesterol in the brain. A clinical trial to test this led by Dr. Rik van der Kant, team leader at the Dementia Discovery, started in fall 2024 and now the first patient has completed treatment. Participants are still being recruited.
Why is there a link between height and schizophrenia?
It has been known since 1936 that people diagnosed with schizophrenia are on average 1 centimeter shorter than people without that diagnosis. However, there have been few explanations of this relationship. Neuroscientist Cato Romero and his colleagues therefore investigated the link between schizophrenia and height in DNA datasets.
Altered spines on memory-encoding neurons in the hippocampus
A study performed by PhD student Panthea Nemat of the Molecular Engrams team led by Dr. Priyanka Rao-Ruiz was recently published in a special issue on “Deciphering the memory engram” in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory in which they describe “Structural synaptic signatures of contextual memory retrieval-reactivated hippocampal engram cells”.
New AI Tool Helps Identify Disease-Related Genes, Boosting Drug Discovery
Scientists have developed a powerful new tool to pinpoint genes most likely causally linked to diseases, potentially accelerating drug development and advancing our understanding of disease biology.
SUPERGLUE consortium, lead by Mark Verheijen and Rogier Min, receives NWO-XL funding
In SUPERGLUE, PI’s at the VU (Mark Verheijen, Priyanka Rao-Ruiz, Natalia Goriounova, Harold MacGillavry) and AUMC (Rogier Min, Erik Bakker, Elga de Vries) will collaborate to investigate how subcellular compartments of the astrocyte control cognitive processing .
Alzheimer Nederland Major Award to Jan van Weering
Alzheimer Nederland has awarded Jan van Weering a Major Award to investigate how neurotrophic signaling and mitochondrial function can be modulated to restore neuronal network function in neurons with tau pathology.
Symposium “Perspectives on Knowledge Utilization in Life Sciences”
Matthijs Verhage and Iwan de Esch are organizing a symposium on January 31st, preceding the inauguration lecture of Dr. Ruud Toonen, professor of Neuroscience and Knowledge Utilization. The symposium is free and open to the public, targeting students, life science professionals, and individuals working in the medtech/biotech sector.
Vidi grant awarded to Amélie Freal
Amélie Freal (FGA) was awarded a Vidi grant from NWO for her project “Neurons in balance” to investigate the mechanisms controlling axon initial segment plasticity and how this regulates network activity homeostasis.
Amsterdam UMC fellowship for Dr. Danai Riga
Danai Riga will join the FGA as a new team leader, after being awarded the Amsterdam UMC fellowship. The fellowship (750K) will support her in establishing her independent research line and expand her research group at the CNCR.
Kim Wolzak awarded with Alzheimer Nederland thesis prize 2024
During a regular Monday morning lab meeting, Kim was surprised by a team from Alzheimer Nederland with the Alzheimer Nederland thesis prize 2024. She was applauded for the impressive manner in which she was capable to explain her high quality fundamental scientific work performed in the Scheper lab to a lay audience.
ERC Starting grant for Max Koppers
Max Koppers (FGA) was awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Union for his “RNA.ORG” project to investigate the molecular mechanisms that coordinate mRNA capture and translation in neurons.
Million Dollar Bike ride for research of STXBP1-related disorders
On Saturday June 8, 2024, our teams successfully biked the European Million Dollar Bike Ride, a fundraising event to raise money for research into STXBP1-related disorders! Together they raised more than 12.000 euros.
Tauopathy Challenge Workshop Grant for Rik van der Kant
Dr. van der Kant, group leader of the Dementia Discovery Group at the CNCR, has received a $500.000 award to study how lipids contribute to primary Tauopathies such as progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
Dr. Wiep Scheper (FGA) appointed as professor of Proteostatic Stress and Neurodegeneration
Dr. Scheper is internationally known for her studies on the role of proteostatic stress mechanisms in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. She now receives further recognition for her work with a professorship.
A map of chromatin accessibility in the developing human brain
A collaboration between Marijn Schipper and Danielle Posthuma from CNCR-CTG and Camiel Mannens and Sten Linnarsson from the Karolinska Institute Sweden has led to the publication of the first map of chromatin accessibility and paired gene expression in the entire developing early embryonic human brain. The study is published May 1, 2024 in Nature.
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.
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.
CNCR co-hosts 1st European STXBP1 Summit in Milan
The STXBP1 team (FGA) joined 150 other researchers, healthcare professionals, industry representatives, and patient families and -advocates from all over the world for the first European meeting fully dedicated to STXBP1
CNCR joins TARGET ALS consortium to restore Stathmin2 expression
Irune Guerra San Juan and Matthijs Verhage (FGA) became partners in an international consortium that designs and tests oligonucleotides to suppress poison exon insertion and restore full length Stathmin 2 expression in sporadic ALS
ZonMW funds multidisciplinary CNCR collaboration
A core problem in several dementias is the inability to form new memories and gradual loss of old memories. Funded by a ZonMW open competition grant, the teams of Wiep Scheper (Amsterdam UMC Human Genetics/FGA), Priyanka Rao-Ruiz (VU MCN) and Michel van den Oever (VU MCN) will collaborate to obtain mechanistic insight into memory formation and persistence and how this is disturbed in dementia.
CNCR researcher receives grant from the EU joint program
Van der Kant and the VU Medical Center receive funding for unravelling the associative link between exercise and lipid metabolism in prevention against Alzheimer.
CNCR researchers receive funding for Brain Initiative
The American National Institute of Health will fund new brain research of three CNCR researchers at VU Amsterdam through the so-called Brain Initiative programme. Brain research is desperately needed to better understand and treat brain diseases.
Three CNCR researchers each awarded a VIDI grant
Rik van der Kant, Natalia Goriounova and Priyanka Rao-Ruiz, researchers at the Center for Neurogenomics & Cognitive Research at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, have been awarded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) with a Vidi grant worth 800,000 euros.
UCB and CNCR join forces targeting genetic epilepsy syndromes
The global biopharmaceutical company UCB and an FGA team led by Ruud Toonen signed a 700k€ contract for joint research to develop new treatment strategies for genetic epilepsy syndromes.
