Name Responsible Activity "Human Physiology and Sports Physiotherapy Research Group" "Bart Roelands" "The research group MFYS explores the interaction of exercise on neurochemistry and neurophysiology. The research is concentrated at several levels: Fundamental – Physiological research; Applied – Clinical research and Benchmarking – Policy making research. Most of the research projects progress through these 3 levels, starting from fundamental studies (e.g. animal studies) through applied, clinical trials, which could lead to benchmarking studies or to policy making advise. Fundamental – Physiological research: At this fundamental level, animal and human experiments are combined, with measurements of neurotransmitters and the hormonal output from the brain during different manipulations (see relevant refs ‘Exercise & Brain Neurotransmission’). We perform fundamental research on the limits of fatigue, mechanisms of thermoregulation (see relevant refs ‘Exercise Performance and the Brain), the positive effects of exercise on neurogenesis (see relevant refs ‘Exercise & Neurogenesis’), and the effects of exercise and pollution and the brain also included animal studies (see relevant refs ‘Exercise, Pollution & the Brain’). The Applied – Clinical research aims at examining the value of the study findings of the fundamental research at the applied/clinical level. Again, all studies are within the area of exercise and the brain in health & disease. In general, the applied – clinical research is focused on studying exercise and training in different patient populations such as obese, diabetes patients (see relevant refs ‘Exercise, Diabetes & the Brain’), sports injuries and performance (see relevant refs ‘Exercise & Sports). Recently, the effects of exercise and pollution are integrated into the applied – clinical cluster, this way the health enhancing effects of ‘commuter cycling’ are outweighed against air pollution (see relevant refs ‘Exercise, Pollution & the Brain’). Fundamental and applied research is performed in an ongoing collaboration with the R&MM research group of the faculty of engineering. Together we obtained a Strategic Research Program – VUB, in which Exercise, the Brain and the added value of Robotics are studied (see also collaboration). Since several years the research group is involved in ESA sponsored research. The first paper after the ‘Mars 500’ project was published in 2013 (ref 5,6). Several Antarctica missions (ref 7,8), were performed, and prof N. Pattyn is currently the medical research officer of a British mission on the Halley research basis. These experiments are linked with the control experiments from the Antarctica mission (ref 7,8), and the project focusing on sleep & recovery. In order to bring applied research in line with the Exercise & Brain research we created the ‘Lotto Sport Science Chair’. This ‘chair’ was renewed in 2014 and a second PhD project is ongoing. This research project examines several aspects of performance and recovery, focusing on brain mechanisms of fatigue and recovery, including nutritional interventions (e.g. refs 13-21). In 2013 R. Meeusen was the leading author of a joint consensus statement on ‘overtraining’ of the 2 leading world organizations on sports medicine and sport science (European College of Sport Science – ECSS and American College of sports Medicine – ACSM) (ref 45-56) (see relevant refs ‘Exercise, Overreaching, Overtraining’). Most of the applied sports research is in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Sports looking at training & recovery. Sports Injury Prevention, especially neuromuscular aspects of injury prevention, is run together (see relevant refs ‘Exercise & Sports) with the University of Amsterdam and integrates sports injuries with fatigue, recovery and underlying neuromuscular mechanisms. Also in 2014 an extensive experiment was performed on an ‘ecological method’ to induce extreme exercise induced fatigue - overtraining (Tour for Life AMBRURO), an international project with UAmsterdam, Utrecht and Rome.Benchmarking or policy supporting research. The interuniversity spin-off with the University of Ghent ‘Spartanova’ is an on-line application of training and testing in athletes, together with injury prevention and talent detection.The strategy followed by MFYS is based on solid collaboration with several national and international groups. Of special interest is the collaboration with the R&MM research group of the faculty of Engineering (MECH). This collaboration started with the ALTACRO project in which a substantial grant from the VUB goes to the building of a ‘rehabilitation robot’ (e.g. ref. 38, 58-62). This ongoing collaboration resulted in the ‘Strategic Research Program’ at the VUB: ‘Exercise and the Brain in Health & Disease: The Added Value of Human-Centered Robotics’ focuses on at integrating the expertise of the two VUB groups so that the specific multidisciplinary research can be performed. Furthermore, it will allow us to cross the conventional research borders, and develop a unique joint expertise within the consortium. In line with this collaboration the FP7 project Cyberlegs started in February 2012. “Cyberlegs plus plus” the follow up of this EU project will be submitted April 2015. With Horizon 2020 it is clear that our strong research consortium will try to be involved in several European projects (negotiations on grant submission are ongoing). IN 2014 we obtained an Horizon 2020 grant “SCAFFY” (MSCA-RISE project). Historically MFYS has a strong collaboration with several groups : The close collaboration with the laboratory of pharmacology VUB (FASC) within the Centre for Neuroscience for the animal studies has proven to be an important factor in the research. An international collaboration with a Japanese group (University of Hiroshima) was established following a 2 year post-doc fellowship of Hiroshi Hasegawa at the dept. This allows a continuation of this animal research line (see refs 4, 12, 16). Linking brain research with pathologies such as obesitas, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is established in collaboration with dr Luc Van Loon (University of Maastricht, The Netherlands). Together we supervised a PhD project which now results in research on cognition, neurogenesis in diabetics, and the elderly person (see relevant refs ‘Exercise, Diabetes & the Brain’). The ongoing collaboration with dr Elsa Heyman (University of Lille France) has resulted in a ‘dual PhD’ for Dr Cajsa Tonoli, we obtained a TOURNESOL travel grant. We are looking at cognitive aspects in type 1 diabetics (see ref. 48-52). In 2014-2015 prof Danusa Diaz Soares from the Laboratório de Fisiologia do Exercício - LAFISE Belo Horizonte Brazil is doing her sabattical in MFYS. This has led to the submission of several research project (also together with the university of Maastricht, and Lille). There is an ongoing collaboration with VITO. With this group, we examine the balance between the health enhancing effects of commuting by bicycle and exercising in busy traffic (polluted air). We explore the medical and cognitive effects of cycling in polluted air (see refs 30-36). Also together with VITO and the Universade federal de Sao Paulo, we run a project that explores the effects of air pollution on the health and cognition of active people, athletes and elderly (e.g. ref. 30-36). Exploring brain mechanisms of fatigue not only involves neurotransmission but also supraspinal pathways, this is examined together with the dept. of Applied Biology of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (Prof Jacques Duchateau). The Royal Military Academy (VIPER) is also a prominent partner, especially through Dr. Nathalie Pattyn, who is an expert in psychophysiological aspects of stress, sleep and cognition. The study on confinement has led to an ESA grant ‘Mars 500’ on long duration isolation and the effect of exercise. This international project is run together with the university of Rome and the Sport university of Köln (see ref 5,6). Data processing from the ESA South Pole experiments is ongoing. This ‘Antarctica project’ integrates the collaboration between several groups such as VITO – Sport University Köln – VIPER – MFYS VUB “ESA - Concordia”." "Laboratory for Experimental Psychology" "Johan Wagemans" "* Problems concerning knowlegde-based visual information processing: visual extraction of information in situations where much information is available. Equipement for monitoring the eye-movements of a viewer in a free visual field, at a 50 or 1000 Hertz sampling rate. * Artificial intelligence and vision: research on object recognition as embedded in a visual scene. Computational approaches of perception where low and high-level vision are integrated in a fully-fledged cognitive model. * Artificial intelligence, focused on knowledge acquisition by experts and the representation of such knowlegde in a formal system, to assess the psychological plausibility of existing formal theories, and to indicate the best ways to simplify the procedure of knowledge extraction. * The representation of spatial knowledge in a conceptual structure of the mental system. * Cognitive modelling of human memory structures: an experimental and neuro-psychological approach." "Health Psychology" "Andreas von Leupoldt" "Description research unit:Biomedical variables generally explain only a part of a person’s experience of health and illness and in many instances a novel approach including social and psychological influences is needed. The KU Leuven Research Group “Health Psychology” aims at unravelling how psychological and somatic variables interact in health and disease from a psycho-bio-social perspective. Both fundamental and applied research is being conducted ion order to better to understand how interoceptive sensations are processed, and how cognitive, emotional and learning processes contribute to the initiation and maintenance of chronic somatic symptoms, illness and disability. Key words in our group are chronic pain, pain-related fear, breathlessness, respiratory psychophysiology and symptom perception. The prevailing research paradigm is the controlled experiment. Measurements often include self-reports, psychophysiological responses, and behavioural data.Collaborative, interdisciplinary research is performed by a network of experienced researchers, clinicians and students who are fascinated by the behavioural science of health and disease. The ultimate goal is to apply the gathered knowledge in the assessment and early identification of those people at risk, and in the development of customized cognitive-behavioral interventions in the pursuit of prevention and treatment of chronic somatic complaints.The Health Psychology Researcg Group is a dynamic and enthusiastic research group of about 25 researchers from different nationalities. There is collaboration with several clinical settings (University Hospital Leuven, ZOL Genk) and external institutions (e.g. IMEC). We also have collaborations with international labs (France, USA, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Luxemburg) and short visits in those labs are possible as well.Interoception and psychophysiologyLead: Prof. Ilse Van DiestContact information: Ilse.VanDiest@kuleuven.beDescription:Under the supervision of Prof. Ilse Van Diest, several research lines include peripheral psychophysiological measurement techniques, including heart rate variability, beat-to-beat blood pressure recordings, respiration, startle blink or other EMG measures, and skin conductance. Together with a team of pre- and post-doctoral researchers, Prof. Van Diest has several ongoing research lines:Interoceptive fear. We investigate how fear of breathlessness and fear of (visceral) pain change the perceptual sensitivity and response bias towards the perception of breathlessness or pain, respectively. The internee will be familiarized with both psychophysiological and behavioral measures, computational models and will gain expertise in data analyzing, programming and writing of a scientific paper.Vagus nerve stimulation. We investigate the effects of VNS on several behavioral outcomes, including fear, extinction learning, executive functioning, and fatigue. We stimulate the vagus either electrically, either through deep breathing techniques.  We also plan to setup a clinical study to see how vagal nerve stimulation may accelerate treatment effects in patients.Respiration and pain. In collaboration with medical researchers from Leuven and London, we investigate effects and mechanisms of slow deep breathing on pain. Experience and treatment of breathlessnessLead: Prof. Andreas von LeupoldtContact information: Andreas.vonLeupoldt@kuleuven.beDescription:Prof. Andreas von Leupoldt examines the experience, neural processing and treatment of breathlessness. Breathlessness is the threatening cardinal symptom in many respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD, but also in other clinical conditions such as anxiety and psychosomatic disorders. Recent research from our group has demonstrated that psychosocial aspects play a key role in the subjective experience of breathlessness regardless of underlying lung function. For example, negative emotional states and traits are often associated with greater experience of breathlessness. However, many questions regarding the interplay between breathlessness, its neural processing, its treatment and psychosocial aspects are yet not answered. In addition, similarities and differences of breathlessness with other aversive bodily symptoms (eg, pain) are not well understood. Ongoing studies in healthy individuals as well as in patients with respiratory disease include:Influence of psychosocial factors on effects of a pulmonary rehabilitation program in patients with respiratory diseaseThe neural processing of breathlessness and other bodily symptoms using Evoked Potentials in the EEGThe impact of personality characteristics on the experience of breathlessness and other bodily symptomsThe methods spectrum varies from study to study. Some studies include questionnaire data in combination with clinical patient data as collected in rehabilitation settings (lung function, exercise capacity). Other laboratory studies experimentally evoke mild to moderate states of breathlessness or pain in healthy individuals and measure a few bodily parameters, emotional states and traits and/or neural measures as assessed with EEG-techniques. Pain, action and interferenceLead: Prof. Johan VlaeyenContact information: johannes.vlaeyen@kuleuven.beDescription:Pain is a biologically salient stimulus, mostly of aversive nature, that signals a threat to the integrity of the body, and interrupts ongoing activities. Acute pain usually resolves within hours or days. Chronic pain, per definition, persists for longer periods of time, although it may fluctuate and there can be intermittent pain-free episodes. Pain also interrupts ongoing activities and may compromise prospective memory for the interrupted tasks. Research in our lab has also shown that fear of pain, and the consequent avoidance behavior plays a key role in the transition from an acute pain episode to a chronic pain state, but the exact mechanisms still need to be uncovered. Therefore, we are currently testing the role of associative learning and the acquisition, generalization and extinction of pain-related fear, and the effects of such learning on pain perception, psychophysiological reactivity and avoidance behavior. We also are testing whether the unpredictability of pain modulates its perception. Usually, fear of pain takes place in a social context, and the expression of pain seems influenced by the characteristics of that context. For example, we showed that in a threatening social context, individuals show less painful expression despite increased pain, as compared to a non-threatening social context. Finally, we are examining whether the findings on pain generalise to other perceptual modalities such as tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Ongoing research includes:Painful interruptions and the effects on prospective memory and consequent task performance.Acquisition, generalization and extinction of pain-related avoidance behavior using a 3 degrees-of-freedom robotic arm.The role of pain unpredictability on pain perception and perceptual discrimination of pain cues.Pain in context: the effects of social context on pain-related fear and pain expression.The sound of silence:Tinnitus aurium elicited in an anechoic roomMost studies are conducted in the laboratory with healthy participants who are exposed to brief mild to moderate painful (or auditory) stimuli. Experimental manipulations are related to the primary research question, and can involve threat, interruptions, predictability, the presence of an observer etc. Typical dependent variables are pain intensity, pain sensitivity, fear of pain, eye blink startle reflex, facial expressions, and various reaction times. In collaboration with TRACE, the centre for translational psychological research, there are also possibilities top conduct experimental studies in patients with chronic pain at the ZOL hospital Genk (East Belgium)." "Physical Activity, Sports & Health Research Group" "Jannique van Uffelen" "The Physical Activity, Sports & Health research group conducts research with societal impact on the health, physical fitness and sports performance of individuals and groups across the lifespan. Two research lines can be identified:1)            Physical Activity for Fitness and Health research lineResearch topics within the Physical Activity for Fitness and Health research line are guided by the Behavioural Epidemiology Framework. This framework distinguishes five steps that specify a systematic sequence of studies on health-related behaviours, physical fitness and health, leading to evidence-based interventions and practice. Within this research line, we use a range of behavioural change theories (e.g., Self-Determination Theory, Social Identity Theory) and a diverse set of methodologies, including randomised controlled trials, to promote physical activity behaviour and to reduce sedentary behaviour among a diverse range of populations in various settings. 2)            Leadership for Team Effectiveness and Motivation in Sport research lineResearch within the Leadership for Team Effectiveness and Motivation in Sport research line examines how leadership structures within sports teams as well as motivational factors influence team efficiency, team dynamics and psychological well-being in sports. This research line is mainly targeted at elite and recreational athletes in field settings." "Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group" "Dante Mantini" "The Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group consists of the following two reseach units, each with their own research focus:1) The primary focus of Motor Control Laboratory is to understand the principles underlying control of human movement with special emphasis on coordination and cognitively demanding motor tasks in association with sensory processing. Furthermore, we have developed a long-standing interest in skill acquisition and the neurobehavioral changes that occur as a result of practice.2) The Research Unit Perception and Performance studies  performance and learning aspects of motor skills. The research lines are situated in both fundamental and applied areas, covering perceptuo-motor behaviour in young and older adults, novice vs. expert performance and healthy vs. pathological behaviour." "Department of Experimental clinical and health psychology" "Rudi De Raedt" "Clinical psychology examines the relationship between behavior, cognition and emotion on the one hand, and illness and health on the other. Common problems in children, adolescents or adults such as developmental disorders, anxiety, depression, delinquency, eating disorders, addiction, psychosis, relationship problems and / or sexual problems, are subject of study. Health psychology includes health promotion and psychological intervention in many physical conditions (cancer, diabetes, asthma, chronic pain ...) the core. Conversation skills, methods of health promotion, and methods of child support, youth and adults are central." "Experimental Pharmacology" "Ilse Smolders" "In the research group Experimental Pharmacology the vast majority of scientists are trained in pharmacology and psychopharmacology. Our team has however a nice complementarity between a number of neuroscientists-pharmacologists engaged in preclinical research, a number of analytical experts looking for new sensitive methods for monitoring numerous neuromediators, brain biomarkers and pharmacological read-outs, and a number of colleagues who conduct mainly clinical pharmacological research. Our research group is part of the Center for Neuroscience (C4N) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (https://c4n.research.vub.be/en) 1/ Preclinical research in EFAREFAR has expertise with rodent models of seizures and refractory epilepsy, stress-related mental disorders such as anxiety and major depressive disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and more recently also multiple sclerosis. The neuromethods we use on a daily basis range from in vivo to ex vivo and in vitro approaches. We have a range of in vivo paradigms to assess convulsive behavior, stress coping, anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, cognitive and motor function. We utilize electrophysiological approaches including in vivo telemetry-based 24h-EEG monitoring and ex vivo slice electrophysiology. We are renowned for in vivo monitoring of endogenous mediators from brain samples (e.g. microdialysis, COFM). We perform ex vivo analyses of rodent brain biomarkers and in vitro work on cultured neurons, astrocytes or microglia. We more recently started to work at the single cell level with patch clamp electrophysiology and transcriptomics. We make use of not only classical pharmacology and genetic models but adopt also novel state-of-the art technologies such as chemogenetics and photopharmacology and we recently developed expertise in transcranial electrical stimulation methods.The team of Ilse Smolders is mainly dedicated to find new therapeutic strategies for refractory epilepsy. Cognitive dysfunction is a core symptom in several neurological but also psychiatric disorders where it severely affects quality of life and predicts poor functional recovery. The team of Dimitri De Bundel studies rodent models in a range of behavioural tests to determine the mechanisms driving cognitive dysfunction and to explore potential therapeutic targets: NEUROMODULATION AND INFLAMMATION IN STRESS-RELATED MENTAL DISORDERS - VUB C4N.Ron Kooijman who is unfortunately approaching his retirement has always been a driving force for unravelling mechanisms of neuroinflammation in brain diseases: NEURO-INFLAMMATION, NEUROTROPHIC FACTORS AND NEUROPROTECTION - VUB C4N. 2/ Bioanalytical research in EFARNeuropharmacological research is strongly dependent on the availability of sensitive analysis methods for neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and biomarkers in brain samples of rodents. The development of newer, faster, better and more sensitive analysis methods is the challenge for the bioanalysts in our team, pharmacist Ann Van Eeckhaut and clinical biologist Ilse Weets. They apply targeted (e.g. sensitive LC-tandem mass spectrometry) and untargeted (e.g. metabolomics) analytical methods in their research. The team of Ann Van Eeckhaut focusses on bioanalytical challenges in basic neuroscience research. The teamof Ilse Weets performs biomarker research in the domains of metabolic diseases, diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders.  3/ Clinical pharmacological research with a link to neuroscienceThe use of medicinal products during pregnancy, lactation and in young children calls for special caution. A risk assessment requires knowledge of the specific pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The team of Eline Tommelein focuses on the use of medicines during these phases of life, but also on the adequate treatment of pregnancy- or breastfeeding-related disorders. Another line of research of Eline Tommelein are the drug-related problems that can arise when medicines are used differently from how they were intended and she specifically focusses on interactions with alcohol use and smoking.Sofie Brouwers interest in hypertension and how it can be regulated by the brain is long standing. She is interested how brain mediators interact to control sympathetic tone and blood pressure and may be important in the pathogenesis of many forms of hypertension: CNS AND BLOOD PRESSURE CONTROLE - VUB C4N. She also carries out research into pharmacological treatments of high blood pressure to improve the outcome of difficult-to-control hypertensive patients." "Brain, Body and Cognition" "Kris Baetens" "The BBCO research group focuses its research on the comprehensive study of mental processes and their biological (brain and body) correlates in different domains of human functioning and behavior, such as cognition, social judgment, affect, well-being and sleep. Without doubt, the study of the brain and body, and its related mental processes is at the forefront of current research in many disciplines of psychology. Together with behavioral (experimental – observational) approaches, novel neurobiological methodology are becoming increasingly used in psychological research, and allow unprecedented insights in human mental processes during all brain states (waking, sedation, sleep). These novel techniques include:(a)     brain imaging techniques (e.g., electroencephalography, functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging),(b)     (virtual) lesions studies,(c)     brain stimulations techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) which can be used at the forefront of neural treatment in order to alleviate symptoms of patients with neural or psychological dysfunctions,(d)     biological measures that investigate the role of the body, including neurotransmitters, hormones and genes on psychological functioning.It is expected that the field of neurobiology (brain and body) will continue to grow strongly in the coming years by developing more and more advanced applications and theoretical approaches, discovering more about the functions of the brain and body, and hereto unknown neurobiological processes that impact on psychology. Especially the deeper brain areas are still largely unexplored, including the function and structure of the cerebellum, and genetic origins of psychological functions, structures, and pathologies. It is therefore important that this research group responds to this ever-growing evolution with closer and larger collaborations." Management "Sascha Albers" "The research is situated in the domain of organisation studies and strategic management, with a focus on understanding the functioning and effectiveness of organisations. All this is being analysed from different perspectives: strategy and organisation theory, human resource management, organisational psychology, organizational ecology, industrial organization, communication sciences, and more. Both in terms of theories applied and people employed, the Department stimulates multi-disciplinarity. This is also reflected in the topical breadth of research interests. Examples of current research themes are stress and well-being, career management, managerial decision-making, competitive processes and market dynamics, cooperation in organisations, top management team composition, strategic innovation in B2B-markets, professional communication and digital media. With the arrival of new staff in the context of the Odysseus initiative (see below), this range of topics will be further expanded to higher level of analyses, including cities, regions and countries. In the field of organisation studies the following topics are representative: - Top management team composition and diversity: functioning, performance impact and relation to strategy; - Mobility of professionals, entry/exit in teams and organisations, and the effect on performance; - Study of organisational diversity in different contexts, in terms of both the antecedents and consequences, and at different levels of analysis; - Legitimacy of new organisational forms, and its relation to form emergence and industry evolution. In the field of strategy the following topics are representative: - Developing capabilities through networks; - Strategy innovation in business markets; - Determinants of growth in organisations and entrepreneurship; - Purchasing and market strategy. In the field of strategic decision-making, the following topics are representative: - The role of cognition and emotion on control perception and strategic decision; - Personality influences on cooperation and decision-making; - Strategy-selection in social dilemma's; - Strategic decision-making for cities, and for public and cultural entities. In the field of human resources, the following topics are representative: - Diversity management, and High Potential Management Development; - HRM themes in diverse contexts, focusing on such issues as stress, competence management, work design and coaching; - Competence management. In the field of business communication the following topics are representative - Writing and digital media; - Cognitive aspects of writing processes in professional settings; - Determinants of writing style in business and technical communication." "Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation" "A physical therapist helps patients with several physical complaints by practicing multiple excercises of physiotherapy."