At this Online Symposium, Academy members of Class III – Medicine provide insights into their research.

• Hilmar Bading, Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences, University of Heidelberg: “NMDAR/TRPM4 interface inhibitors: a new pharmacological principle for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases”. The neuroscientist is conducting research on degenerative processes of the nervous system and how these can be halted. He is investigating the role of NMDA receptors found on the neuronal cell surface. While their excessive activation can result in a toxic effect, their inhibition may protect nervous tissue from adverse cell death. Based on these findings, Bading is developing neuroprotective treatments.
• Tobias Böckers, Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Ulm University: “Synapses and synaptopathies”. The physician is investigating how the central nervous system processes information. Communication between neurons occurs at synapses and is the foundation for any learning and memory formation in the brain. Böckers is researching the molecular composition of synapses and analysing proteins associated with the development of diseases such as dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).