Projects
Understanding disease mechnaisms of neurodegeneration caused by C9orf72 repeat expansions using patients-derived induced pluripotent stem cells KU Leuven
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating degenerative disease of motor nerves in brain and spinal cord. It results in muscle weakness and atrophy, and is relentlessly progressive. It often is fatal only three years after onset. ALS forms a continuum with another disease, characterized by behavioral changes, called frontotemporal lobe degeneration (FTLD). ALS-FTLD is hereditary in about 10 % of patients. In about half of these, the ...
Conditional knockout mice for the Smad-interacting protein and new DNA repair enzyme Tdp2: do embryonic neurogenesis defects contribute to adult neurodegeneration? KU Leuven
Tdp2, a signaling protein discovered in our lab, is also a binding protein for the Parkinson's Disease protein PARKIN7/DJ1. We characterized Tdp2 as a unique DNA repair enzyme relevant to cancer therapy and neurodegeneration. We propose to study Tdp2's role in neurodegeneration based on our preliminary data that Lewy Bodies form in aged Tdp2 knockout mice, which we made. These mutant mice also develop neuroinflammation. We propose to ...
Live imaging of neurons and mitochondria in the human enteric nervous system to assess Parkinson’s disease related neurodegeneration KU Leuven
Neurodegenerative disorders, have a large impact on social and economic level; they affect quality of life to a large extent and create high financial burden for patients. Until now the only diagnosis for most of the neurodegenerative diseases is based on clinical symptoms, which occur when the disease is already advanced. Thus, available therapy for neurodegenerative disorders is unfortunately purely symptomatic. Therefore apart from ...
Translational study on dopaminergic modulation in normal visual cortex and neurodegeneration. KU Leuven
We recently observed a remarkably robust but surprising effect in early visual cortex of monkeys in the absence of a visual stimulus. We found that rewards without visual stimulation selectively decrease fMRI activity within the representation of a stimulus that was paired with the reward during entirely different trials. In particular, we found that these reward signals can modulate (reduce) activity in visual cortex in a spatially-specific ...
Neurovascular defects induced by diet and their relationship with the onset and development of neurodegeneration. KU Leuven
An in vivo evaluation of the neurovascular response capacity with histological validationby neurovascular defects who are induced by diet and their relationship with the onset and development of neurodegeneration.
Mechanisms of neurodegeneration caused by peroxisomal beta-oxidation deficiency. KU Leuven
The central nervous system is among the tissues most enriched in lipids and lipid abnormalities are increasingly considered to contribute to the pathogenesis of rare and common neurodegenerative disorders. Peroxisomes, the latest discovered cell organelles, play an essential role in lipid homeostasis but their precise contributions were not elucidated yet. Peroxisomal disorders are inherited diseases characterized by developmental and/or ...