Genes To Cognition Project

Genes To Cognition Project

Genes to Cognition (G2C) is a neuroscience research programme that studies genes, the brain and behaviour in an integrated manner. It is engaged in a large-scale investigation of the function of molecules found at the synapse. This is mainly focused on proteins that interact with the NMDA receptor, a receptor for the neurotransmitter, glutamate, which is required for processes of synaptic plasticity such as long-term potentiation (LTP). One key discovery that led to the G2C project was the characterization of a group of proteins that interact with this receptor, called the "NMDA Receptor Complex (NRC)" and the observation that dysfunctions of many of these proteins are characteristic of numerous diseases of the nervous system. The NRC contains 185 proteins, 48 of which have so far been implicated in 54 human nervous system disorders. The molecular evolution of the NRC is also an active area of research, and it has been shown that an increase in the complexity of these signaling proteins at synapses has evolved alongside the enhanced cognitive capacities of humans and other higher vertebrates.