Geneva, Switzerland (swissinfo) - Researchers at the University of Geneva, whose Neurocenter is holding its annual meeting today, have recently made strides in understanding how the brain’s organization is affected by learning and memory functions.

The findings could have important implications for understanding how learning affects the brain, especially in patients with strokes, autism and schizophrenia.

A three-year study of mice brain cells under the direction of Dominique Müller, neuroscience professor, has shown that dendritic spines and synapses, the bridges that connect neurons in the brain, build new paths and discard old ones based on experience (paper published in PloS Biology). Applying the results directly is far down the road, but their work should help other researchers, writes Swissinfo’s Tim Neville. He quotes Anthony Holtmaat, a molecular neural biologist at the university, “This study gives us something to work with; [The authors] have helped narrow down the physical components of memory.”

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