Research Projects

The PERADES Programme (Defining Genetic, Polygenic and Environmental Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease, using multiple powerful cohorts, focussed Epigenetics and Stem cell metabolomics) will find new susceptibility genes for early and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It will take all genetic findings and test for relationships with life- style...

The aim of the study is to understand more about genetic FTD, particularly in those who have mutations in the progranulin (GRN), microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) and chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72) genes.

The increase in average lifespan across the world has been accompanied by an unprecedented upsurge in the occurrence of dementia with high socio-economic costs. The development of personal health systems provides a means of dealing with such problems in a meaningful and sustainable manner, enabling persons with dementia to maintain independence and...

The main aim of DISTINCT will develop a premier quality multi-disciplinary, multi-professional and intersectorial education and training research framework for Europe aimed at improving technology and care for people with dementia and their carers, and to use coherent themes an.d interrelated ESRs within DISTINCT to provide the evidence to show how...

This project aims to help people with dementia engage in social contexts to improve psychosocial wellbeing. People who are affected by Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias often face cognitive, behavioural and psychosocial difficulties, including impairment and degeneration of memory and of perceptions of identity. In a social context, this can...

A striking challenge in diagnosis and therapy of neurodegenerative diseases is the design of drugs capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a tightly regulated barrier that prevents the passage of drugs from the blood to the brain. In vitro cellular BBB models are available, but they mimic only healthy conditions without taking into...

DORIAN GRAY project investigates the link between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in the ageing population. Its goal is to uncover underlying mechanisms to promote healthy, independent, and active living while reducing disease burden. Aligned with EU-Horizon Europe’s Strategic Plan on NCDs prevention, the project...

The behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a common cause of early-onset dementia that presents with changes in behavior and personality. It is often misdiagnosed and mistaken for a psychiatric disorder, such as depression or bipolar disorder. Unlike with Alzheimer’s disease, we still lack reliable tests that enable a diagnosis...

Human populations are impregnated by various types of chemical pollutants reported as hazardous waste present in the environment. Certain pollutants have adverse effects on brain, but the underlying mechanisms and time-window exposures are still unknown, as well as their contribution on dementia, the 7th leading cause of death. EXPOSIGNALZ project...

We pioneered an initially highly controversial connection between DNA damage and (accelerated) aging. In the previous ERC grant ‘DamAge’ we reached the stage that (segmental) aging in DNA repair-deficient mice can be largely controlled. The severity of the repair defect determines the rate of segmental aging; the repair pathways affected influence...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects worldwide ~50 million people. Preclinical research relies mainly on transgenic mouse models overexpressing mutant human proteins that are altered in <5% of AD cases (e.g. β-amyloid and tau), however, despite prominent protein aggregates, they fail to show the dramatic neurodegeneration and cognitive decline of patients, indicating that plaques and tangles may not be the only requirement for AD. Age is the most determining factor in AD, but is poorly represented in current AD models.
Generating bona fide mouse models for various human DNA repair syndromes we have disclosed a very strong connection between DNA damage, repair and aging including dramatic neurodegeneration. Within the context of ERC-DamAge we discovered striking parallels in neurodegeneration, progressive cognitive decline and genome-wide expression profiles of repair-deficient Ercc1Δ/- mice and human AD. The similarities in expression profiles are an order of magnitude higher than current AD mouse models. We discovered that nutritional interventions can spectacularly delay neurodegeneration, opening realistic perspectives for combating AD and other neurodegenerative disorders. The primary goal of this application is to complete the characterization of the mouse mutants as a valid model for AD by a detailed quantitative comparison of all RNA classes of relevant brain compartments of Ercc1Δ/- mutants and AD patients. This not only provides the final PoC, but also an unparalleled resource for pathway analysis, target identification and biomarkers for monitoring disease progression and effects of any intervention. This application will be instrumental to facilitate transition to a valid AD model for pharmaceutical companies enabling development of effective medication for prevention and/or therapy. This proposal addresses a huge unmet medical need worldwide, which seriously affects QoL, challenges health care systems, and offers unprecedented socio-economical opportunities.

There is an urgent medical need for efficient diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease and related tauopathies, as well as disease modifying treatments, due to the heavy burden of the disease on patients, families and society. To address this public health issue, TAME R&I training network gathers leading academic and industrial experts in tau research...