NPlast

Research in NPlast is concerned with fundamental questions on how synapses communicate with the nucleus, how gene activity-dependent gene expression feeds back to synaptic function and how this is related to the formation of a cellular engram and last but not least how the nanoscale organization of the synapse determines functional properties in the context of learning and memory.

Target Group

PhD students

Objectives

The NPlast network aims at providing optimal conditions for PhD students in neuroplasticity research. The key scientific objective of the NPlast training network is to investigate neuroplastic principles that can preserve or restore function and that can be used to ‚rejuvenitate’ the brain in the elderly as well as to treat neuropsychiatric conditions in adults.

Theme Focus

Neural plasticity is the basis for cognitive flexibility, adaptation to new challenges and also recovery after CNS disorders. In the next coming years the number of particularly elderly people suffering from brain disorders will tremendously increase. The complexity of these diseases requires a more integrative view of the multiple interactions between genes and environment, synaptic processes and neuronal circuitry. NPlast will train young neuroscientists in relevant techniques by bringing together expertise from different areas of neuroscience that merge in a highly multidisciplinary research and training program. The NPlast consortium consists of four partners from the private and eight partners from the public sector and will provide a research training program for fifteen young scientists. The program covers a broad spectrum of disorders and interventions ranging from synaptopathies and trafficking deficiencies to Alzheimer’s disease, and from altering gene expression programs to manipulations of the extracellular matrix of the brain to preserve or restore synaptic function. The key objective of the NPlast training network is to investigate neuroplastic principles that can preserve or restore function and that can be used to ‚rejuvenitate’ the brain in the elderly as well as to treat neuropsychiatric conditions in adults.