Projects
Technology-assisted writing training in Parkinson's Technology-assisted writing training in Parkinson's KU Leuven
The basal ganglia play an important role in motor learning, especially during the consolidation phase. This raises the question whether it is possible to sustain learning increments in a neurodegenerative condition such as Parkinsons disease (PD). The aim of this study is to gain knowledge on whether it is possible to relearn skills which are actually affected by PD, such as writing, and determine whether neuroplasticity is possible. In this ...
VitaminK2 as a mitochondrial electron carrier to improve Parkinson related deficiency. KU Leuven
Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegerative disease, yet effective therapies do not exist. In many cases of Parkinson’s disease, a defect at the level energy generating mitochondria within cells is suspected, but effective methodologies to improve mitochondrial function are lacking. Using sick fruit flies that also harbor features of Parkinson’s disease, we find that vitamin K2 is necessary and sufficient to increase energy ...
Identification and functional characterization of Parkinson related genes in Drosophila KU Leuven
In vivo study of the metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5 (mGluR5) in relation to adenosine signalling and neuroinflammation in experimental Parkinson' disease. KU Leuven
With an ageing population, the search continues for curative or at least improved symptomatic treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). Current treatments are primarily aimed at restoring basal ganglia signaling through targeting of the striatal dopaminergic synapse, most often with the dopamine precursor levodopa. However, these interventions do not slow down the disease or prevent the occurrence of ...
An Integrated software platform for Tagging Freezing of Gait in Parkinson Disease (FOG-IT) KU Leuven
High-throughput electrophysiological phenotyping of synthetic Parkinson patient-specific nigrostriatal microcircuits KU Leuven
Most cases of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) are due to unknown causes, preventing the development of curative treatments. Rare heritable PD caused by mutations in single genes has been studied as a model of the general sporadic form. Previous studies support this approach as heritable and sporadic PD share common molecular defects. This project aims to link the causal factors of sporadic cases with the ones present in genetically-driven ...
Axon guidance mechanisms suppress Parkinson Disease phenotypes KU Leuven
We will analyze transcriptomic profiles of fly brains harboring mutations causing hereditary PD during aging. We aim to characterize selective neuronal vulnerabilities observed in PD by analyzing the PD library available at the Verstreken lab using state of the art single-cell transcriptomics.
Identification of the neural substrate underlying Parkinson disease related hyposmia in flies and the impact of individual disturbed molecular pathways on circuit function and homeostasis in the brain. KU Leuven
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. An early and prominent symptom of PD is the impaired ability to smell (hyposmia), in both idiopathic and familial forms. To date, we do not know which neural circuits in the brain are impaired to cause this phenomenon. We further do not know, what causes the impairments in these circuits. I present a research plan to address these open questions. Familial PD results ...
Selective dopaminergic reward signals in the visual cortex of monkeys, humans en Parkinson patients. KU Leuven
We recently observed a remarkably robust but surprising reward effect in early visual cortex of monkeys in the absence of a visual stimulus. In particular, 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. This result suggests that rewards can ‘tag’ stimulus representations in sensory cortex during ...