Research Projects

Severe neuronal disorders such as dementia affect more than 1 billion people globally and account for economic burden far exceeding that of cancer. Our only chance of treating dementia is improving our understanding of how brains function at diverse levels of complexity. This will only be possible through better technologies, which already reflects...

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a major hallmark of various neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s diseases or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). However linking mitochondrial dysfunction to the pathogenesis of some of these diseases still needs to be elucidated. Furthermore, in pathologies where...

Dementia researchers are increasingly focusing their efforts on finding ways to prevent the onset of dementia symptoms in the first place, and for this they need to work with people who are still in the very earliest stages of the disease. The MOPEAD project aims to identify and test different models for engaging with this important group and...

The ambitious goal of this project is to reveal the molecular mechanisms of presynaptic plasticity in the vertebrate brain. Synaptic plasticity occurs in the form of alterations in both presynaptic neurotransmitter release and postsynaptic receptor function. However, due to technical reasons and in contrast to intensely studied postsynaptic...

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...

The objective of Mylife is to support independence for older people with reduced cognitive function by giving them access to simple and intuitive services that are adapted to their individual needs and wishes. The ambition of the Mylife project is to provide network-based access to, and management of, commercially and/or freely available software...

The anticipated pandemic increase in the number of Alzheimer disease (AD) and dementia cases carries serious implications for society. The goal of the MIND-AD project is to identify effective prevention strategies for AD/dementia tailored to different at-risk groups. The project is based on experiences and data from five ongoing European...

Many older adults living in residential care homes suffer from dementia and depression. MIDDEL aims to determine if music interventions can help. Specifically, this trial will provide robust and generalisable results concerning the comparative effects of group music therapy (GMT), recreational choir singing (RCS), their combination, or standard...

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...

Molecular imaging is the current standard of care for the diagnosis (staging) of cancer, the evaluation of cancer treatment effectiveness, and is generating evidence as the best predictor for earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Molecular imaging differs from traditional imaging in that probes known as biomarkers are used to help image...

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...

Age related memory decline, mild cognitive impairments (MCI), and cognitive impairments that occur with diseases, such as stroke, brain injuries, or early stages of dementia, have negative effects on the ability to navigate and to orient. Affected people who repeatedly start experiencing disorientation events often become scared of venturing out...