Research Projects

The brain is nowadays the object of a number of extensive systematic studies that focus on seemingly all aspects of its morphology and function, from overall brain architecture to neuronal connections, neuronal morphology and gene expression. However, at least one basic aspect is as yet incompletely studied: the molecular anatomy of the neuron, i.e...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of age-related dementia. This neurodegenerative disorder is characterized by massive neuronal death and deposition of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), which is formed by processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP). The mechanism of neuronal degeneration in AD are not well understood, but growing evidence...

'A major portion of the eukaryotic genome is occupied by DNA sequences whose transcripts do not code for proteins. This part of the genome is transcribed in a developmentally regulated manner and in response to external stimuli to produce large numbers of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). From the beginning of transcription through splicing and...

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channel are neuronal and allow the temporal encoding of information as spike trains in neural circuits. It is therefore important to investigate how each Kv channel is able to do this so that we can better understand how brains work and generate plastic behaviour. In addition genetic diseases (channelopathies)...

Proteins and peptides have a generic tendency to convert from their soluble states into well-organized aggregates characterized by a fibrillar morphology and an extended cross-beta structure. Such transitions can give rise to over 40 pathological conditions ranging from neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease...

A majority of our most common neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, age-related dementia and multiple sclerosis, are manifested by memory loss and a reduced potential for learning. Additionally, a substantial portion of our population suffers from various forms of learning difficulties. Despite all the efforts to...

Major objective: It is our aim to develop a lipid based diet that is able to delay or prevent onset of Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases and has a stabilizing effect on cognitive performance in aging. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that there is a large overlap between risk factor of these three diseases. Importantly, there is equally...

Following initial learning, information stored in memory undergoes a time- and experience-dependent evolution. Currently, the nature of this evolution at the neuronal ensemble level remains largely unknown. To obtain insight into this dynamic process there is a need to follow memory-associated neuronal representations in large populations of single...

Every day we need to remember whether we have seen people before and adjust our decisions accordingly. The goal of the proposed research is to further our understanding of decisions based on remembered information by following those as they happen in the brain. To be able to study neural decision dynamics, we use computational models of recognition...

It is now increasingly clear that most of our genome is transcribed, but that only a small portion is associated with protein coding gene. Indeed, recent analysis indicate that long non-coding RNA outnumbered by five fold the coding RNA sequences. Despite this abundance, very little is known on the function of these long non-coding RNA. The aim of...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia that affects one in 14 persons over the age 65 years and one in six persons over the age of 80 years. Increased deposition of the protein beta-amyloid (Aß) is a core brain pathology of AD that occurs years before the onset of clinical symptoms of dementia. Together with Aß...

Research in recent years has started to provide an alternative view to Alzheimer's etiology emphasizing the role of other factors such as inflammation and brain vascular alterations in the development of Alzheimer. Of major interest is the link between AD and hypertension, another global epidemic affecting millions of people worldwide. Hypertension...