Programme features

Dear colleagues and friends,

We are delighted to invite you to the FEBS Advanced Lecture Course on ‘Molecular mechanisms of synaptic vesicle dynamics’, hosted at the Anargyrios and Korgialenios School on the scenic island of Spetses (Greece), October 12-18, 2026. The course is aimed at PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and scientists interested in membrane and lipid trafficking related to synaptic vesicle biogenesis and exo/endocytosis in health and disease.

Signal transfer and processing in the brain relies on the spatial and temporal exquisitely controlled release of neurotransmitters, which are stored in synaptic vesicles (SVs). Precursors of SVs bud at the ER and are transported along the secretory pathway and the cytoskeleton to the nerve terminal. Upon docking at the active zone of the pre-synaptic plasma membrane, SVs mature to form a readily-releasable pool. The arrival of an action potential locally increases Ca²⁺ which triggers exocytosis in less than one millisecond. In addition, to generate and maintain the large plasma membrane surface of neurons, bulk lipid transfer is required. Thus, synaptic function relies on profound cargo and lipid flux and on organizational principles to recycle and enrich distinct sets of proteins/lipids in local functional and dynamic environments. Recent developments and improvements of techniques, including high resolution imaging, in vitro reconstitution, electrophysiology, molecular modelling, and biophysics have revealed detailed and unsurpassed insights into the molecular components/mechanisms, structural architecture, signaling pathways and pathogenesis of neurotransmitter release. Five highly relevant and interconnected sessions will cover the following research topics:

Membrane trafficking Synaptic vesicle biogenesis requires transport along the secretory pathway from the ER to the nerve terminal. Recent discoveries have revealed that larger cargo employs specific machinery, allowing the formation of membrane tunnels at ER exit sites, instead of classical transport vesicles. Rab proteins play a central role in compartment-specific membrane trafficking and their phosphorylation controls trafficking and can causes Parkinson disease. In addition, regulatory mechanisms of axonal transport and their dysfunctions in neurological diseases, and organelle coordination during autophagy will be discussed.

Lipid dynamics and trafficking Distinct lipids, like phosphatidylinositides, play key roles in membrane dynamics and compartmental identity in health and diseases. This session also covers the molecular mechanisms and structural aspects of bulk lipid transfer at membrane contact sites, which e.g. is required to maintain the plasma membrane surface of neurons. 

Active zone and molecular condensates Synaptic vesicle tethering and neurotransmitter release is locally restricted to defined areas of the presynaptic plasma membrane - the active zone. This requires the assembly of distinct protein scaffolds, which also recruit proteins from dynamic molecular condensates. The underlying principles of scaffold assembly, biomolecular condensates, implications for disease prevention and computational approaches will be highlighted.

Components and structural organization of the exocytosis machinery Although the core components of the exocytosis machinery have been identified and their basic functions have been characterized, the exact assembly pathway finally culminating in the formation of fusion pores is still debated. Recent data revealed the structural organization of vesicle docking sites and provided new insight into the basic mechanism of neurotransmission. The session will also highlight how electrophysiology in living neurons, sophisticated reconstitution assays, cryoEM, and biophysics uncover novel structure-function relationships, and illustrate how mutants affect the underlying mechanism, and how proteostasis and protein aggregation cause neurodegenerative diseases.

Applications of advanced technologies The use of advanced technologies such as high-resolution imaging has significantly forwarded our understanding of the intracellular organization of membrane compartments and their communication pathways. Recent advances also revealed how mitochondrial function in distinct neurons controls sleep.

Altogether, this course targets an integrated view of synaptic vesicle dynamics, bringing together experts working at the forefront of highly relevant and related topics including membrane trafficking, lipid dynamics, neuronal exocytosis and the organization of supramolecular structures and molecular condensates. The talks will emphasize molecular mechanisms, function-structure relationships, molecular causes of neurological disease, and state of the art technologies. In an informal setting, poster sessions, selected short presentations, flash talks, casual meet-the-expert sessions, and diners of small groups with speakers in local restaurants will stimulate interactions between students, postdocs and lecturers, establishing scientific and personal networks.

Thomas Söllner, Bernd Helms, and Felix Wieland
(Course Organizers)