While the traditional school of thought has been that one protein from each side of the synaptic cleft combine to form a trans-synaptic bridge that helps form and/or stabilize a synapse connecting two neurons, a recent UTMB study found that sometimes a third molecule can block this connection by getting in between the two proteins. 'There is a huge amount of interest in knowing how proteins at synapses work, how these connections are made and how lesioned or damaged proteins at synapses contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders in people,' said UTMB’s Gabby Rudenko.