Research Projects

Cognitive abilities change with development and age. Cognitive development during childhood and adolescence depends on an intellectually challenging environment, but is robustly affected in various forms of mental retardation. Adult cognitive abilities are strongly correlated with a person’s success in life. Finally, cognitive decline is an...

Non-invasive imaging techniques allow visualization of the dynamics and biochemical activity of pathological processes in real-time. By having proper molecular tools, a complete picture of pathologic conditions can be acquired at resolutions from the molecular level to the full body scale. Hence, smart multimodal imaging tools can be utilized for a...

Here is proposed nano-scale synthesis and combinatorial screening of medium sized peptide-transition metal catalyst libraries with the aim of producing libraries for screening highly selective catalysts for development of nano-medicines. The implementation of catalytic molecules as medicines is a new paradigm in treatment that can overcome a number...

The search for effective therapies and early detection strategies for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), the major cause of dementia in Europe, is imperative. It is known that β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide plays a central role in neurodegeneration. In AD brain, Aβ is released in a soluble form that progressively becomes insoluble forming aggregates; extracellular...

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...

Background: There has been great interest in identifying persons at high risk of developing Alzheimer disease (AD) and dementia, as they should constitute a target group for possible prevention or early treatment of dementia in the future. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a transitional zone between normal cognitive function and clinical AD. The...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a highly prevalent neurodegenerative disease associated with gradual loss of cognitive functions and brain vitality. The leading “amyloid cascade” hypothesis for the pathogenesis of AD states that amyloid-β (Aβ) starts to accumulate ~15 years before symptom onset and starts a cascade of pathological events, including...

The MEMOLOAD project will focus on the molecular and biological mechanisms underlying memory loss that occurs in Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia and an enormous medical, social and economic challenge to Europe. Several lines of evidence point to accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide (Aß) in the brain as the key pathologic event in...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are common in elderly and the prevalence of these is increasing. AD and PD have distinct pathogenesis, which precede the overt clinical symptoms by 10-15 years, opening a window for early diagnosis and treatment. New disease-modifying therapies are likely to be most efficient if initiated before...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Generally, it is diagnosed in people over 65 years of age, although the less prevalent early-onset Alzheimer's can occur much earlier. As of September 2010, this number is reported to be 35.6 million worldwide. AD develops for an indeterminate period of time before becoming fully...

Large non-coding RNAs and microRNAs are important regulators of gene expression that may control both physiological and pathological processes such as neurodegenerative disorders. Given the complexity of neurodegenerative disorders, studying the role of non-coding RNAs would be necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying ageing...

As a result of the aging population of the developed countries, neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) afflict an ever-increasing number of people. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent NDD with more than 36 million people currently affected worldwide. Although AD has been studied for more than a hundred years, its “ultimate” trigger is not yet...