Research group Molecular Neurogenetics

Aims

Hans van Bokhoven is a full professor and head of the Molecular Neurogenetics unit. The focus of his research is on neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular intellectual disability (ID), autism (ASD), neural migration disorders and other cognitive disorders. Over the years, his research has identified a large number of genes (around 100) that carry causative mutations in a variety of (neuro)developmental disorders that have an important medical and socio-economical impact to our society. This work has generated many new opportunities for diagnostics, counseling and clinical management of patients with cognitive disorders. His recent research elaborates on the notion that the overlapping comorbidities seen amongst different neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders have a common molecular basis. He has been a pioneering advocate of this concept of converging networks and pathways amongst neurodevelopmental disorders, such as synaptic activity and chromatin disruptions. These common mechanisms provide an excellent starting point for fundamental research and research aimed to develop new strategies for intervention. To that end, we follow a multi-level strategy that, besides neurogenetics, includes functional analyses of in vitro and in vivo models. In vivo studies comprise neurobiological and behavioral research in animal models, in particular Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) and mice. In vitro studies encompass the manipulation and neurophysiological assessment of primary neurons from wildtype and mutant rodent model organisms. In addition, we have established a core group for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells, which we use to generate neural lineages for functional studies and for pre-clinical testing of pharmaceutical interventions.