The molecular pharmacologist and biochemist Volker Haucke has been granted funding in the Koselleck programme of the DFG for highly innovative research into the mechanisms of neuronal communication Our ability to memorize our first kiss or the last day at school as most other functions of the brain relies on communication between nerve cells at special contacts called synapses, where chemical signals are conveyed from one nerve cells to the next. Volker Haucke from the Leibniz-Institut fur Molekulare Pharmakologie has now been granted funding within the highly competitive Reinhart-Koselleck programme of the DFG to unravel the mechanisms of quality control that allow nerve cells and the synapses formed between them to function properly.