“LAB 404 – A collective delirium about life in the Lab” is the result of Marionet’s training and creation activity, associated with Syn2Psy – Synaptic Dysfunction in Neuropsychiatric Disorders, a HORIZON 2020 project, funded by the European Commission in the area of neurosciences, of the Centre for Neurosciences and Cell Biology of the University of Coimbra (CNC). It was set for 14 doctoral students, distributed by 7 international institutions and coordinated by Professor Ana Luísa Carvalho.

Syn2Psy comes in the scope of the work of collaborative artistic creation with scientists, based on scientific themes, that Marionet has been developing for more than a decade. It also follows our regular participation in CNC’s PhD Program in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine, where we annually give training on the transposition of scientific themes to theatrical formats.

This project began in March 2019 and, since then, there have been several working sessions for the development of the script, coinciding with workshops in specific scientific techniques that brought together all the researchers. Its public component includes the presentation to the participating research teams and to the general public, with emphasis on higher education students, of areas of knowledge related to the theme, science professionals, among which teachers and researchers, and also the public interested in scientific culture.

By participating in this project, Marionet intended to deepen ties with the CNC, to continue its advanced training project related to the creation of science-themed theatre, to diversify its partners and to reinforce the integration in networks of scientific excellence.

This initiative’s partners were the Centre for Neurosciences and Cell Biology of the Universidade de Coimbra, the Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience of the Université de Bordeaux, the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, the Brain and Mind Institute of the École Polytechnique de Lausanne, the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences of the University of Edinburgh, the Centre for Neurotechnology of the Imperial College London, the Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine of the Sorbonne Université. It also counts with the collaboration of Lundbeck, CTI Clinical Trial & Consulting Services, Zeiss, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, and PIN – Progresso Infantil.