Research Projects

Every year, Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects about 800,000 new patients in Europe and directly causes 50% of dependency of aged persons. Currently there is no test to diagnose this disease. There is a great need to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer which causes between 15-28% of all cancer deaths in Europe. Chemical and structural...

Neurodegenerative dementias are characterised by a continuous loss of neurons that are not replaced. Why neurons die in disease-affected brain regions is still a matter of discussion. This project explores a key common pathological mechanism across the three major neurodegenerative diseases leading to dementia: Alzheimer’s disease, Frontotemporal...

Across Europe there is an increasing shift from centralized intramural care to decentralized extramural care, with a major role and responsibility for care organisations to provide care in the community and tools to support independent living. In the MagicTABLE project we want to bring the intramural serious game system, the ‘Tovertafel’, to the...

MADIA aims at realizing a versatile and cheap diagnostic device based on magnetoresistive sensors, microfluidic device, ultra–small Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNPs) and advanced bio-chemical functionalization methods for the early and ultrasensitive. in vitro detection of biomarkers trustfully associated with 2 incurable neurodegenerative diseases...

MARIO addresses the difficult challenges of loneliness, isolation and dementia in older persons through innovative and multi-faceted inventions delivered by service robots. The effects of these conditions are severe and life-limiting. They burden individuals and societal support systems. Human intervention is costly but the severity can be...

MEMENTO provides a solution to help people with dementia to life with a decline of memory – short term memory as well as long term memory. MEMENTO provides a tool to create own set of memories in everyday life. It’s your own picture, voice and video diary. MEMENTO addresses people with early and middle level of dementia such as those subjects with...

In M-GATE, ESRs will combine state-of-the art experimental neurophysiology, innovative technologies, and advanced theoretical approaches to unveil memory mechanisms, from single neurons to brain networks, to cognition and behaviour, addressing the healthy and diseased brain. Through research and training from top-class scientists and close...

What is the relation between the intestinal microflora and the brain in the development of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease? A functional relation between the intestinal microflora (microbiota) and the brain, referred to as the “microbiota-gut-brain axis”, was hypothesized more than 100 years ago but only...

Dementia is currently diagnosed largely based on cognitive decline, while pathology starts years before symptom onset. To make progress in the development of effective drugs for dementia, there is an urgent need for biomarkers to enable precision health: for early and specific diagnosis and objective monitoring of disease progression. With its...

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a central redox cofactor and the limiting substrate of key metabolic enzymes. The constellation of cellular functions in which NAD+ is involved makes its availability critical for cell survival, and its depletion is a leading factor in a number of diseases in humans, ranging from rare inherited defects to...

The search for effective therapies and early detection strategies for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), the major cause of dementia in Europe, is imperative. It is known that β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide plays a central role in neurodegeneration. In AD brain, Aβ is released in a soluble form that progressively becomes insoluble forming aggregates; extracellular...

Medical diagnosis is currently undergoing a major revolution due to the fast discovery of molecular biomarkers, and the development of multimodal “metabiomarker” signatures. Progress, however, is hindered by low abundance of many biomarkers of interest in body fluids, in absolute concentration and with regard to other biomolecules. The aim of the...