Research Projects

The conversion of normally soluble and functional proteins into insoluble protein aggregates known as amyloids are linked to more than 50 human disorders, including several common forms of age-related dementia such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Amyloids exist as long, rope-like structures known as fibrils which can self-associate into...

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...

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...

This application is to enable mutual transfer of knowledge and experience by enhancing mutual scientific interest, augmenting research projects and exchanging new ideas. We envision that the collaboration will bring joint publications and new discoveries in the area of Magnetic Resonance (MR). The project aims at the improvement of current...

Memory loss is a central symptom in different diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, and represents a significant social and economic burden for a large percentage of European citizens. Neuronal cell adhesion molecules belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgCAMs) are known to be involved in brain development processes, and also contribute to...

Peptide-lipid interactions are critical in several biomedical matters that seem uncorrelated at a first glance. MEMPEPACROSS deals with some of these: 1) Lipid membrane-interactions are the key for the understanding of dengue virus assembly and can constitute a target for its inhibition. Viral hemorrhagic fever caused by dengue virus is a serious...

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...

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...

Graphs are used in modern neuroscience to represent structural and functional connectivity of the brain acquired using magnetic resonance imaging. A number of pathologies affect these networks: their study holds vast promise for understanding and diagnosing brain diseases. But brain connectivity data is not trivial to process, and the predominant...

Generation of toxic oligomers during aggregation of amyloid beta peptide (Abeta42) into amyloid fibrils is a central event in Alzheimer disease. Understanding the aggregation process is therefore one important step towards therapy and diagnosis of the disease. We propose a physical chemistry approach with the goal of finding the molecular...