Ruth Handschin, Letters from Nature

The Brain Research Institute was founded in 1962 as a neuroscience research center in the medical faculty of the University of Zurich. The four departments - molecular cognition, neuromorphology, neurophysiology, and neurochemistry - focus on basic research topics ranging from molecular and cellular processes to network functions in the nervous system. The main areas of investigation concern the ability of the central nervous system to regenerate after injury, the mechanisms underlying synaptic transmission and plasticity, and the processes determining synapse formation.

Our long-term colleague and friend Eva Hochreutener Lechleitner passed away after several months of suffering on Friday, November 27 2009. She worked at our Institute for more than 25 years as a graphic designer and was highly appreciated for her artistic illustrations. Her important contributions are acknowledged in hundreds of published papers. Over the last couple of years she also became a key collaborator in our team for the analyzes of animal behavior. We miss her enormously and it is hard to imagine our Institute without the ever friendly and helpful personality of Eva.