Research Projects

University of Ljubljana, located in a low R&I performing country, will partner with two internationally-leading organisations, the Medical University of Graz and KU Leuven, to expand the support and coordination capacity for national and European research in ageing-related decrease in brain functions leading to dementia. By 2025 more than 25% of...

The changing demographic is one of the greatest challenges in Europe. With an expected 25% of the population over 65 by 2030, the incidence of neurodegenerative age-linked diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is likely to increase. They severely impact quality of life and to date, therapies can only treat the symptoms. Oligomerization and...

Many pioneering advances in medicine and biology require observation of the microscopic world with high resolution and without damaging the specimen. One of the most widespread techniques is multiphoton fluorescence microscopy, which allows full 3D imaging via optical sectioning, i.e., imaging of planes within the sample without the need for...

Alzheimer’s disease is on the rise in our ageing population, and new, effective treatments are urgently needed. Currently, the safety and benefits to patients of potential treatments are assessed in strictly-controlled clinical trials. However, clinical trials do not provide information on the health benefits for patients in their daily lives in...

Age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein aggregation represent one of the most important medical and socio-economic challenges of our time. With the extension of human life span, the prevalence of this group of diseases has markedly increased. Among them, Alzheimer’s diseases (AD) and other dementias have become the second...

Alzheimer's disease (AD), the main cause of dementia, is one of the major global health challenges of our time. This disabling disorder affects 55 million people worldwide, with costs above $1.3 trillion. With 67 million people at risk for AD dementia (prodromal and preclinical AD) in Europe alone, it is a major unmet public health need, with...

The pathological Ab peptide that accumulates in senile plaques in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains is derived from a precursor protein APP. Although etiology of AD is complex, genetic evidence shows that duplication of the APP gene locus leading to elevated levels of APP protein is sufficient to cause early-onset AD highlighting the importance of...

An important aspect of chronic neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s or prion disease, is the generation of an innate inflammatory reaction within the central nervous system. Microglial cells play a leading role in the development and maintenance of this inflammatory reaction, showing enhanced proliferation and...

The life essential element iron is required as a cofactor in central nervous system metabolic processes, but unbound iron catalyzes the production of toxic reactive oxygen species. Neuronal iron accumulation is a common pathological feature in the cortex in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the substantia nigra (SN) in Parkinson’s disease (PD), and the...

There is an urgent need for novel approaches assessing functional decline in early AD. The main goal of the RADAR-AD project is to develop a digital platform to detect subtle functional deficits in early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) individuals by integrating a meaningful combination of smartphone, wearable and/or home sensor based parameters. The...

Alzheimer’s disease is a major cause of disability among older adults and represents substantial financial and human costs to patients, families and societies worldwide. Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Thus, novel effective treatments need to be developed that target the root causes of Alzheimer’s disease, in particular the...

Transport proteins are the gate-keepers of our cells, effectively controlling the flow of nutrients and other molecules across the cell membrane. With over 400 members, solute carriers represent the largest class of transport proteins. Yet although they have been implicated in diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral...