Published on December 13, 2018 | Updated on January 29, 2019

CORTEX conference by Jean-Louis Bessereau

March 26th, 2015

Building a nanomachine: from worm genetics to human synapses

Over the last years, synaptic defects have been involved in the pathogenesis of a growing number of neuropsychiatric diseases leading to the concept of "synaptopathies". Using a combination of genetic, imaging and electrophysiological tools in the nematode C. elegans, we identified novel synaptic organizers controlling the nanoscale differentiation of postsynaptic domains. Disruption of these molecules impairs synaptic transmission and might be linked to disease states in humans.