Research Projects

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...

Throughout evolution, the human genome has been attacked by retrotransposons, parasitic DNA elements that spread through our genome by a copy-paste activity. I previously showed that SVA elements, the youngest class of retrotransposons in our genome, harbour a strong gene-regulatory potential which is normally repressed by KRAB zinc finger protein...

Your brain has its own waterscape: whether you are reading or sleeping, fluid flows through the brain tissue and clears waste in the process. These physiological processes are crucial for the well-being of the brain. In spite of their importance we understand them but little. Mathematics and numerics could play a crucial role in gaining new insight...

Mobility or physical movement contributes to health and well-being in later life and is a key issue in gerontological research. Most studies have focused on the contribution of outdoor mobility to active ageing, but physical and cognitive impairments restrict the mobility of many older adults. MeaningfulMobility will take a more comprehensive...

Protein aggregation is associated with some of the most prevalent and devastating neurodegenerative disorders in our society, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. The intricate details of the aggregation process are now beginning to emerge through major efforts for characterizing the associated protein deposits . However, knowledge about...

Advances in neuroscience have returned the focus on learning, placing the relationship between sleep and consolidation of memory at the centre of academic debate. There are two types of sleep: rapid eye movements and slow wave sleep (SWS). Although both types of sleep have been related to memory consolidation, accumulated evidence points more to...

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...

Research on dementia discourse has shown how our attitudes, views and words have a positive or negative influence on the well-being of People Living With Dementia (PLWD). In 2013, Alzheimer Europe’s report underlined worrying ethical risks of metaphor use in dementia narratives, including stigmatisation, stereotyping and social exclusion. Yet we...

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...

Vascular dementia and heart failure represent major health burden to morbidity, mortality and quality of life. Comorbidities (hypertension, aging, diabetes, etc.) affect all organs, but the brain and heart are especially sensitive to these chronic stresses resulting in cognitive impairment (a mental disorder) and heart failure (a non-mental...

The societal burden of brain disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease is enormous and is considered one of the world’s most important health challenges. They affect millions of people worldwide and the annual healthcare costs are high and are increasing with the aging population. There is an immediate need to...

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...