“With brain connections, it is not about having as many as possible, but above all that the quality of the connections is as good as possible. The foundation of this quality is laid in the first three years of our life.”
Corette Wierenga is Associate Professor of Neurophysiology. In the HUB 'The 1001 first days in a child's life', Wierenga, together with geneticists, linguists, biologists and behavioral scientists, investigates the time course, the impact and the consequences of the brain and language development of children in the first three years. These are crucial years because the start determines to a large extent the possibilities at later age.
Our brains are made up of millions of neurons connected by synaptic connections. These are very dynamic structures that constantly adapt themselves in terms of strength and numbers. The neuronal circuits in our brain are highly adaptable during our development, when we learn or in response to disease. Wierenga studies the molecular processes underlying this adaptive capacity and uses this fundamental knowledge to improve neurobiological understanding of brain disorders.
Background
Wierenga studied physics at the VU and obtained her PhD at the UvA for research in neurobiology. She has worked as a postdoc at Brandeis University in the US and at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Germany. Supported by a VIDI and an Aspasia grant from NWO, she started her own research group in Utrecht in 2012 at the Cell Biology department of the Faculty of Science. Wierenga is a member of the Open Science Community Utrecht and is chair of the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting 2022.
Weekend van de Wetenschap: Worden je hersenen steeds slimmer? (Dutch)
Studium Generale: Mind the Memory