Research Projects

Membrane proteins, particularly G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), represent 25-30% of current drug targets. Among them, metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR), a Class C and group 1 type GPCR, is emerging as an attractive therapeutic target for various neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease...

Neurological disorders have emerged as a significant global societal burden, exemplified by afflictions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, impacting over one billion individuals globally and surpassing the combined economic burden of cancer and diabetes. This has spurred a concerted global effort, with increased support for neuroscience research...

Neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer’s disease, currently affects 15 million people in the US with a death rate of 29.5% among 65\ years old and produces a cost around 200 billion dollars per annum. These type of pathologies are caused by neuronal communication failures in multi-scales of the cortical microcolumns. Neuroscience has historically...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart disease (prevalence 1:200 - 1:500), manifested by thickening of cardiac walls, increasing risks of arrhythmia, and sudden cardiac death. HCM affects all ages - it is the leading cause of death among young athletes. Comorbidities due to gene mutations include altered vascular...

Protein misfolding and aggregation into amyloid fibrils is a hallmark of serious diseases such as Alzheimer´s, Familial Amyloidotic Polyneuropathy (FAP) and atherosclerosis. Amyloid fibrils can also be biologically functional. Bacterial and fungal amyloids are proposed to form a prominent protein fold early in evolution. It is unclear why many...

Type II diabetes (T2D), Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are common age-related diseases, which have reached endemic levels and become a burden for the global health. Lifestyle and environment are risk factors, but cannot explain all cases - genes also predispose for these diseases. Common for T2D, AD and PD is abnormal cell...

The γ-secretase intramembrane protease complex plays a critical role in multiple cellular processes including Notch signaling and secretion of amyloid β peptides, the accumulation of which causes Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The enzymatic activity of γ-secretase is, therefore, a prime target for intervention in AD and is of major interest. Yet...

With life expectancy increasing rapidly in our Western world, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder resulting in dementia, is becoming more common, however no cures or effective treatments are currently available. The neurotoxic amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide appears central to AD pathogenesis, and is generated by β- and γ...

Navigil has launched a disruptive wearable mobile personal safefy solution into the Finnish market (http://www.navigil.com/products/s1-wearable-telecare-watch-phone/). The solution has been developed using customer requirements from market leading telecare provider (Esperi Care) who is our first customer and from similar entities in the UK. Wearers...

Dementia represents a major challenge for our ageing societies. The number of citizens suffering from dementia in the EU is expected to reach 19 millions by 2050. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is responsible for the vast majority of dementia cases. However there is still not a single available treatment that modifies the course of disease. Therefore...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. The main hallmark of AD is presence of the extraneuronal senile plaques composed of amyloid beta-peptide (Aβ). Aβ is produced when a transmembrane glycoprotein called Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) is consecutively cleaved by two proteases: the γ-secretase and the β-secretase. γ...

Different from the familial forms, late onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) is not the consequence of a single cause: neither aging, nor genetic polymorphisms nor an environmental disturbance do, per se, suffice to produce this disease. It is currently thought that instead disease is the consequence of an interaction of all the above circumstances...