The European STXBP1 COnsortium (ESCO, www.stxbp1eu.org) was established in 2021 with eight partner countries in the EU, coordinated by VU/AUMC. All partners have now signed the consortium agreement and ESCO secured its 1st funding.

A new study led by Amelie Freal (FGA) describes mechanisms controlling Axon Initial Segment plasticity, revealing distinct and dynamic pools of sodium channels that adjust neuronal excitability

Amélie Freal (FGA) was awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Union for the “PLaisTICITY” project to investigate mechanisms underlying Axon Initial Segment plasticity

Kim de Kleijn (The Candidate Center/AUMC/FGA) received the ZonMW Dementia Fellowship (3 years) to set-up an independent research line to study the TREM receptor family and its relevance for microglia functioning in context of Alzheimer’s disease.

Femke Feringa (FGA) received a ZonMW VENI grant to develop her independent research line on how the Alzheimer risk mutation APOE4 contributes to senescence (cell aging) in human astrocytes generated from induced pluripotent stem cells.

During the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting, Kim Wolzak, PhD student in Wiep Scheper’s research group, received the Top Paper Award 2023 from the Neurofederation.

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

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded an ENW-M2 open competition grant of 730 k€ to CNCR researcher Wiep Scheper (PI team) to study the role of de-ubiquitinating enzymes in tau-induced dysfunction of the neuronal auto- and endo-lysosomal system. In this multidisciplinary project Scheper PI of the Molecular Neurodegeneration group teams up with ubiquitin signalling expert Aysegul Sapmaz (LUMC, Leiden).

Max will start at FGA on March 1st, building a team aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms and functional relevance of mRNA trafficking and local translation in neuronal subcellular compartments in health and disease.

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