The research effort he directs focuses on entirely new compounds that might slow the loss
of brain cell connections, which may play a role in schizophrenia biology.
After a baby is born, there continues to be a building of
important brain cell connections and the introduction of stimulants like sound, color, touch and toys greatly enhances that development.
While trying to combat overstimulation, a baby uses energy that could be used to absorb stimulation, process information and make new
brain cell connections for learning.
Tsien's team is still trying to explain how turning up a single protein can erase specific memories, but he thinks the protein
weakens brain cell connections that were built up when the memory was first made.
The researchers, chiefly from the Broad Institute, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, found that a person's risk of schizophrenia is dramatically increased if they inherit variants of a gene important to «synaptic pruning» — the healthy reduction during adolescence
of brain cell connections that are no longer needed.
The problem is that they have a lack of Synapses (
brain cell connections).
Synapses are
the brain cell connections which enable learning and memory.
Neuroscientists have documented that the earliest days, weeks and months of life are a period of unparalleled growth when trillions of
brain cell connections are made.