The Functional Genomics department studies the presynaptic nerve terminal in health and disease.
We study presynaptic mechanisms that adjust synaptic transmission (presynaptic plasticity), the trafficking & fusion of neuropeptide vesicles (dense core vesicles) and presynaptic mechanisms of degeneration.
We love to share our work & insights with society. We have produced short films on brain myths and the Virtual Brain Experience, that allows you to see the brain from within. We also collaborate with the Museumnacht and explain our science to lay people, school children, patients & their caretakers and clinicians.
The Functional Genomics (FGA) department was established in 2001 when Matthijs Verhage moved in from Utrecht with a small team.
FGA is based in the VU medical center (Clinical Genetics) as well as in the VU University (Life Sciences) and is embedded in the Amsterdam Neuroscience.
We bike together to raise money for research towards new treatments for the rare disorder STXBP1 Encephalopathy!
An international consortium analysed DNA from more than 300,000 people with and without the disorder. The SYNGO consortium, coordinated by CNCR, performed the analyses of synaptic genes. The study is published in Nature on April 11th
Guus Smit and Matthijs Verhage obtained funding to coordinate expert annotation of the synaptic protein interactome, with the goal to curate protein-protein interactions implicated in autism.