New encounter with Synaptotagmin

🧠 The Self-Assembling Brain and the Role of Synaptotagmin While reading the highly engaging and widely recommended book *The Self-Assembling Brain* by Professor Peter Robin Hiesinger, I was struck by an unexpected but fascinating mention: Synaptotagmin. This reference serves as a concrete illustration of the book’s central thesis—namely, that brain development should be viewed not simply as a product of deterministic wiring or pre-coded blueprints, but rather as an algorithmic, evolutionary process. This process unfolds through a complex interplay of genetic programming, stochastic variability, and self-organizing dynamics. Within this framework, brain connectivity emerges as both robust and adaptable, not in spite of—but precisely because of—the balance between deterministic rules and probabilistic events during development. Molecules like Synaptotagmin exemplify how precise molecular functions are embedded in a larger program of growth and functional assembly.

Synaptotagmin is presynaptic molecule that senses and regulates calcium, and is expressed at a point after the first brain wiring is developed (very important fact: one can trust a little more in knock-out studies in this case). From a high level point of view, synaptotagmin receives electrical signals and converts into chemical signals.