Research Projects

Understanding the genetics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the best ways of improving our knowledge of the disease's underlying pathophysiological processes. Indeed, genetic factors account for up to 70% of the attributable risk in common forms of AD. The advent of genomic approaches has led to the characterization of 26 genetic determinants...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an ever-increasing public health concern among the aging population and is the most common form of dementia affecting more than 15 million individuals worldwide and around 5 million Europeans. The direct and indirect costs of AD and other dementias amount to more than €440,000 million each year (www.alz.org, 2010).Even...

Olfactory neurons allow circumventing the blood-brain barrier making this route particularly interesting for the non-invasive intranasal treatment of brain diseases (Alzheimer’s Disease). Moreover, commensal nasal microbes present in the respiratory region, the major surface of the nasal cavity, are assumed to induce health-promoting effects via...

FluiDx-AD aims to transform Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis and prepare the EU healthcare systems for the emergence of new AD therapies, with a 1st-in-class trio of In Vitro Diagnostics tests.FluiDx-AD tests detect a unique and proprietary suite of biomarkers in simple bodily fluids (saliva, plasma/blood), towards widespread, patient-empowering...

NEUREKA will bring a paradigm shift in drug discovery for neurological diseases, a sector that suffers multiple, repeated failures exacerbating the economical and societal burden of these incurable diseases. It will do so by addressing a crucial shortcoming: the lack of in vitro systems faithfully reproducing brain pathology that enable the...

The aim of the project is to utilise state-of-the-art in ICT in order to develop an integrated solution for the  self-management of dementia patients, and develop innovative tools to support this procedure. This  solution can be conceived as an integrated platform enabling distant monitoring of patient status and  facilitating personalised...

The environment is one of the most crucial determinants of health. The Global Burden of Disease report estimates an emerging impact in terms of disability and reducing the quality of life worldwide, particularly for the aging populations. One of the root causes of this decline is likely to derive from the interaction of socio-environmental risk...

The DEM-CHILD project focusses on the main cause for childhood dementia in Europe, the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs). The NCLs are neurodegenerative diseases characterized by dementia, blindness, epilepsy and physical decline leading to an early death of the patients. Since no cure is currently available, these disorders represent a serious...

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has a debilitating effect on patients and their caregivers and leads to substantial economic costs. 15-30% of patients have familial FTD caused by known pathogenetic mutations. For the other 70-85% of patients, termed sporadic FTD, diagnosis is slow (~3.6 years) with frequent misdiagnosis due to clinical, genetic and...

In the absence of a cure for dementia, most research is aimed at an early diagnosis as it opens the way to timely future care and treatment, and can help people take control of their lives and plan ahead. However, people with moderate to severe dementia and their carers are often not receiving services of the type, quality and timing that they need...

By means of three different technologies, visual stimulation of mirror neurons in Alzheimer patients, an interactive agenda or diary and a movement monitoring system, people with dementia will be able to improve or sustain their cognitive functions. By developing, integrating and testing these technologies in home-care and residential settings we...

MEETINGDEM aims to implement and evaluate the innovative Meeting Centres Support Programme (MCSP) for community dwelling people with dementia and their family carers, in three European countries: Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom. This person-centred approach has been positively evaluated and adaptively implemented in 118 meeting centres in the...