A two-day symposium on Neuroplasticity and Synaptic Function in Neuropsychiatric Disorders took place on 27th and 28th April 2017.

The following speakers presented their latest results:

Noboru Komiyama (The University of Edinburgh); Michael Owen (Cardiff University); Kerrie Thomas (Cardiff University); Alcino Silva (UCLA); Riccardo Brambilla (Cardiff University); Kirsty Millar (University of Edinburgh); Kevin Fox (Cardiff University); Daniela Tropea (Trinity College Dublin); Peter Kind (University of Edinburgh); Martin Korte (University of Braunschweig); Stephane Baudouin (Cardiff University).

The symposium aimed at reviewing the evidence that synaptic dysfunction is a primary causal factor in most if not all neuropsychiatric disorders. It considered the molecular and genetic evidence for the role of synaptic protein mutations in psychiatric disorders before exploring functional studies in mouse models of schizophrenia, autism, and fragile X.

Ideas about cures for these conditions were presented by Alcino Silva in his talk entitled Understanding and treating cognitive disorders and by Riccardo Brambilla in his talk on Precision medicine approaches to “cure” synaptic and behavioural deficits in intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders.

A key part of the programme was discussion around the talks and in breakout groups, which should foster future collaborations.

6 April 2017. For further information please contact Louise Edwards, Cardiff Hub Manager EdwardsL31@cardiff@cardiff.ac.uk