Research Projects

Transport proteins are the gate-keepers of our cells, effectively controlling the flow of nutrients and other molecules across the cell membrane. With over 400 members, solute carriers represent the largest class of transport proteins. Yet although they have been implicated in diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral...

Protein Kinases (PKs) are involved in various human pathologies such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases or can be targeted to alter the life cycle of various parasites such as those responsible neglected parasitic diseases such as leishmaniasis and malaria. There are no physiological events not involving significant changes in protein...

Dementia is 60 times less common in people aged below 65 years than in older adults. However, when dementia occurs at a relatively young age it imposes a particularly severe burden on patients and families. RHAPSODY attempts to improve the management of young-onset dementia across Europe. The project starts with an analysis how health and social...

Fronto-Temporal-Dementia (FTD) is a devastating progressive early onset dementia with a strong genetic influence. Currently, seven genes have been identified that explain >50% of familial cases, but how these different genes lead to a very similar clinical phenotype is still an unanswered question. Currently, there is no cure for FTD and for the...

The research area of this proposal is Life Science at the intersection of neuroscience, pharmacology and physiology. In the central nervous system (CNS), astrocytes are both numerous and complex. They contact most other cell types in the CNS, and the processes of a single astrocyte can envelop as many as 140,000 synapses. Thus, these cells are...

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO, ADI), 44 million people around the world have some form of dementia, for which there is no effective intervention, to halt or reverse the progressive cognitive impairment. As Europe’s population is ageing, long-term care for elderly citizens will become an increasing cost for society. To manage this...

Amyloid diseases are of increasing concern in our aging society. These diseases all involve the aggregation of misfolded proteins, called amyloid, which are specific for each disease (PrP for Prion, Abeta for Alzheimer's). When misfolded these proteins propagate the abnormal configuration and aggregate to others, forming very long polymers also...

The objective of the application is the development and characterization of small molecule stabilizers of protein-protein interactions (“Molecular Glues”) as a novel class of biological tool compounds and potential therapeutic drugs for the treatment of cancer as well as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease, respectively. As biological targets we...

Stroke and dementia rank among the most pressing health issues in Europe. Cerebral small vessel diseases (SVDs) have emerged as a central link between these two major co-morbidities. SVDs account for more than 30% of strokes and at least 40% of dementia cases. They encounter multiple distinct diseases that can be separated based on their underlying...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart disease (prevalence 1:200 - 1:500), manifested by thickening of cardiac walls, increasing risks of arrhythmia, and sudden cardiac death. HCM affects all ages - it is the leading cause of death among young athletes. Comorbidities due to gene mutations include altered vascular...

Mounting evidence suggests that early life factors have an important impact on the occurrence of late-life neurological diseases. From a public health perspective this is of particular relevance for dementia, the prevalence of which is increasing drastically, with no available preventive treatment, and epidemiological data suggesting that...

2D-BioPAD is a cost-effective, non-invasive point of care/self-testing tool for the early and accurate prognosis (assistive diagnosis) of Alzheimer's Disease, with special focus on earlier stages such as Subjective or Mild Cognitive Impairment (SCI/MCI).