Neurotransmitter release is a fundamental process in the communication between nerve cells. Altered neurotransmitter release is a feature of most if not all diseases of the nervous system, including mental disease.

HMRI has a group of researchers focussed on developing new, more selective drugs that can modulate neurotransmitter release with minimal side effects.

The Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology Group investigates the way in which different cells in the nervous system use molecules to communicate with each other and how this communication changes during development in health and disease (particularly Parkinson's disease, macular degeneration, stroke, epilepsy, psychosis and depression).

The group has three major focuses:

• how nerve cell communication and growth in the brain can be altered in response to experience and injury
• how nerve cells regulate their signalling to one another at special points of contact called synapses and
• the role of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation on key regulatory proteins in these processes.

Among the group's recent achievements is the development of a new hypothesis to explain why certain nerve cells die in Parkinson's disease, which is now being tested.