'Timing is everything' in the transmission of signals between neurons in the brain. Most of the complex functions that humans are capable of performing would be severely impaired if their neurons were not capable of communicating accurately with one another to a thousandth of a second. Interpersonal communication, learning processes, focusing attention, the rapid processing of sensory stimuli, even the correct execution of movements would no longer be possible. The Israeli scientist Noa Lipstein-Thoms at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen has now discovered a new genetic disease mechanism that affects the strength and precise timing of neuronal signals and leads to movement disorders (dyskinesia), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism.
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