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Research Research groups Translational research neurodegenerative disorders

About Translational research neurodegenerative disorders

We aim to obtain a closer understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders. We translate novel insights from pathophysiological studies into body fluid biomarkers of disease.

Research group leader

prof. dr. ir. Marcel Verbeek

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Aims

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Aims

We want to identify novel biomarkers of disease for diagnostic and monitoring purposes.
We aim to continue fundamental research in mechanisms of neurodegeneration in order to translate these findings to define novel biomarkers of disease.
We aim to broaden our research to biomarkers of extracerebral processes relevant for neurodegenerative disorders.

We aim to perform three types of studies to reach this ambition.

We want to identify novel biomarkers of disease for diagnostic and monitoring purposes.

Whereas protein aggregation biomarkers are already available for clinical applications, we aim to extend this panel to biomarkers of cerebral vascular function and neuroinflammation. Together with genetic susceptibility and neuroimaging biomarkers, these will allow advanced phenotyping and will form the basis for personalized therapy. For this, we will continue our efforts to create unique patient cohorts and biobanks that are crucial to laboratory-supported phenotyping. Moreover, we will continue to embrace novel technologies (such as metabolomics, glycomics, big data analyses).
We aim to continue fundamental research in mechanisms of neurodegeneration in order to translate these findings to define novel biomarkers of disease.
We will broaden our research to biomarkers of extracerebral processes. In Parkinson's disease, systemic inflammation, systemic drug-metabolizing enzymes and the gut microbiome are important modifiers of both disease development, progression and the effectiveness of levodopa treatment. These systemic biomarkers will aid clinical decisions on personalized drug use, enhancing quality of life of patients.

Achievements

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Achievements

We were the first research group to demonstrate that Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA) is characterized by a specific pattern of low cerebrospinal fluid levels of various amyloid beta proteins, which has now become a standard characterization of patients with CAA worldwide.
We have recently demonstrated that more than one (molecularly defined) form of CAA exists depending on its origin (sporadic vs. Alzheimer-associated vs. immunotherapy-associated CAA), which is relevant to future therapeutic interventions.
We were the first research group to report on the inducing effect of levodopa on dopa decarboxylase levels in Parkinson patients, based on which we coined the novel concept of 'peripheral levodopa resistance in Parkinson'.