Researcher

Julie van der Zee

Research Expertise (University of Antwerp):Julie van der Zee is an expert in the neurogenetics of frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and early-onset dementia, with a track-record in gene discovery studies in frontotemporal dementia. In her research she applies advanced multi-omic approaches on well-characterized study populations (patients, healthy elderly) and biomaterials to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) and pathological aging, and to identify biomarkers for early diagnosis, and targets for therapy development. She leads the Biobank Expertise Unit (https://cmn.sites.vib.be/en/bio-banking-0 ) of the VIB Center for Molecular Neurology (VIB-CMN). The biobank legislation of 2018, which is one of the most stringent biobanking-related legislations worldwide, imposed some major challenges for research groups with large historical collections of research cohorts. She provides support and consulting to researchers for biobanking and use of their sample collections in research and sharing of samples with collaborators in academia and industry, within the framework of evolving legislation. Our biobank collections serve as the foundation for innovative multidisciplinary research projects, with a focus on Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia and other NDDs, aimed at advancing translational research and ultimately improving patient care.

Keywords (University of Antwerp):NEURODEGENERATIVE DEMENTIA, GENETICS, NEURODEGENERATIVE BRAIN DISEASES, NEUROGENETICS, DEMENTIA, BIOMARKERS, Biomedical sciences (incl. biochemistry)

Disciplines (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology):Analysis of next-generation sequence data, Behavioural neuroscience
Disciplines (University of Antwerp):Genetics, Molecular diagnostics, Cognitive neuroscience

Research techniques (University of Antwerp):We apply advanced genomic sequencing approaches on well-characterized patient collections and biomaterials to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, to identify targets for improved diagnosis and prognosis (biomarkers), and ultimately therapy development.

Users of research expertise (University of Antwerp):molecular geneticist, clinical geneticist, neurogeneticist, neurologist, general practitioner, molecular biologist patients, families and lay organizations with interest in dementia research biobanks