NGIDD
Neuron-Glia Interactions in Nerve Development and Disease
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Welcome
The nervous system is the control center of our body. It manages our actions and thoughts, but also all the vital body processes such as blood pressure, breathing and so on. For this, billions of nerve cells work together, strictly coordinating their actions. But how does this intricate network develop?
The consortium ‘NGIDD’ (Neuron-Glia Interactions in Nerve Development and Disease) investigates the development of the nervous system. The special focus is on the interaction between the nerve cells (neurons) and another type of cell in the nervous system, the glial cells. Funded by the European Commission, the consortium aims to elucidate the factors and mechanisms involved in this interaction. A better understanding of this aspect of nerve development will in the future hopefully help to develop therapies for patients with specific neural disorders.
In the following sections you can read more on the organization of our nervous system, the special insulating material myelin and the prospects of the research done by the consortium NGIDD. This information is also available as a printable brochure (pdf).
- Two nervous systems working hand in hand
- The evolution of myelin
- How nerve cells become myelinated
- When things go wrong in the peripheral nervous system
- Making myelin in a dish
The POU domain transcription factor Oct6 (green) is expressed
in the nucleus of a myelin-forming (myelin in orange-red) Schwann cell.
Neuron-Glia Interactions in Nerve Development and Disease (NGIDD) is a Collaborative Project under the Seventh Framework Programme for research and technology development (FP7) of the European Commission (Grant Agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2008-201535). It consists of eight partners and is coordinated by Dr. Dies Meijer at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.