The NCCR “Syna-Psy” was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation to bring together neuroscientists and psychologists, spanning both fundamental and applied research domains, to advance our understanding of the synaptic basis of mental illnesses. From 2010 to 2022, with a total budget exceeding 153 million Swiss francs, its researchers, more than 200 clinicians and neuroscientists, have conducted cutting-edge research that has made major contributions to identifying the basis of psychiatric illnesses and allowed the emergence of a new discipline in Switzerland: psychiatric neuroscience. The NCCR has generated more than 1000 publications and propelled 5 clinical cohorts to significantly advance the understanding of autism spectrum and mood disorders, as well as schizophrenia and the consequences of stress on the brain.
In the fall of 2022, the funding provided by the SNSF came to a planned end.
Although the contribution of the NCCR-Synapsy to psychiatric neuroscience is already substantial and internationally recognized, much remains to be done to improve knowledge, screening, treatment and destigmatization of mental illnesses.
This is why a network of three faculty Centers based at the Universities of Geneva and Lausanne, as well as at EPFL, has been created, and in fact been mandated by the Swiss National Science Foundation to disseminate the acquired knowledge and maintain the interdisciplinary research focus into the synaptic basis of mental illnesses.
