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...

The long-term goal of this project is to understand how neuronal assemblies exchange information (functional or neuronal communication), and how variability in neuronal communication explains variability in behavioural performance, both in the intact and injured brain. Communication involves temporal interactions between neuronal assemblies either...

Dementia is a major healthcare challenge worldwide due to its high incidence and its strong impact on the life quality of patients and on society as a whole. Development of treatments for the mitigation of memory impairment in patients with dementia has proven very challenging, partly due to our limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms of...

Stroke is a leading and increasingly important cause of death and disability in the EU. Yet, we have only few effective treatments and an unsatisfactory understanding of human stroke pathophysiology. Current diagnostic algorithms fail to capture pathophysiological mechanisms in daily clinical practice, hindering the allocation of patients to...

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...

In this project we seek to develop new smart imaging molecular tools for combating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and prion diseases. Emphasis is put on translational applied research for the development and validation of novel properly functionalized luminescent conjugated polymers (LCP) that via modern imaging technology...

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique that displays in vivo brain-wide metabolic processes. Prior to PET image acquisition, a tracer, labelled with a positron emitting isotope, is injected to the patient. This so-called radiotracer distributes over the body and accumulates in e.g. inflammatory tissue. To date, 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...

Protein phosphorylation, mediated by kinases, plays a pivotal role in cellular regulation, with kinase dysregulation strongly associated with diseases like cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents a significant global health challenge as the population ages at an accelerating pace. A key...

MEMOSAD aims at defining the molecular mechanisms of Abeta- and Tau-induced synaptotoxicity and at developing disease-modifying therapeutics for the prevention of memory loss in Alzheimer disease (AD). Insoluble aggregates of the two proteins provide the pathological hallmarks of this incurable brain disorder. Early stage AD is characterized by a...

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common form of age-related dementia affecting millions of patients worldwide. Disturbingly, disorders of lipid and glucose metabolism emerge as major risk factors for onset and progression of neurodegeneration in the human population. Thus, an increasing life expectance combined with an observable rise in...