Synapse Research Institute was founded in 1999 as a working group within the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), as well as a company within the Maastricht University Holding. In 2009 Synapse became member of the STAGO group. It carries out developmental research in the field of the (patho-) physiology of haemostasis and thrombosis, operating in the niche between biochemistry and molecular biology on the one side and pharmaceutical- and clinical sciences on the other. It more specifically explores the overall function of the thrombin generating system in platelet poor- and platelet rich plasma and blood as a diagnostic tool and a pharmaceutical target. Synapse BV cooperates with major pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies on such subjects as the mechanism of action of antiplatelet drugs and clotting factor inhibitors, the measurement of their effects in vitro and in vivo in animals and humans, as well as the development of diagnostic procedures based on the assessment of the overall function of the coagulation mechanism.