Projects
IL-13-overexpressing anti-inflammatory Mφs suppress traumainduced premature immune aging. Hasselt University
Aging, inhibition and motor learning: a multimodal imaging approach for the study of neurochemistry and brain network interactions KU Leuven
The capacity to learn new motor skills declines with aging, affecting the quality of life and functional independence in older adults. These declines are partly caused by age-related changes in the brain. However, it remains unclear how age-related changes in the brain’s neurochemical composition and alterations in the functional interactions between brain regions account for the degraded motor learning abilities in older adults. Here, I use ...
The reactive-proactive control balance in healthy and clinical aging KU Leuven
We are continuously bombarded with input. Our cognitive system needs to selectively process relevant input, maintain this input and inhibit automatic or irrelevant input, to achieve our goals. This process is called cognitive control. The DMC theory distinguishes proactive and reactive control. Proactive control is an early selection
mechanism that works preventively and anticipatory before conflict occurs. Reactive control is a late ...
Non-Amyloid Pathological Brain Aging in Late Life Depression KU Leuven
Depression and age-related brain disorders such as dementia are together one of the greatest public health issues of our time. With a rapidly increasing aging population and longer life expectancy, the burden associated with depression in later life will only increase. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying depression is crucial for limiting the personal and economic impact of the disorder by improving diagnosis and ...
Structural and functional brain connectivity for executive control over action in aging KU Leuven
One hallmark of aging is a motor functioning decline that represents a crucial impediment for healthy and active living. A candidate mechanism for this motor decline in older adults is an agerelated deterioration of higher cognitive (‘executive’) functions and their involvement in motor control. Specifically, older adults have been demonstrated to rely on executive functions to a larger extent than young adults when performing complex motor ...
An integrated material science and kinetic approach towards understanding the aging of Common beans during postharvest storage KU Leuven
Legumes, including beans are a highly nutritious food widely consumed in developing countries (as a staple) and are a growing part of diets in developed countries, and with the predicted world population growth are likely to become even a greater part of diets. Their full utilisation is nonetheless hampered by the development of a physiological defect (hard-to-cook defect) during prolonged storage at high temperatures and humidity (typical of ...
Inhibition and action in the aging brain: role of GABA in brain function and network interactions KU Leuven
Studying the neural mechanisms underlying age deficits in movement control is of utmost socioeconomic relevance. Here, we will study inhibitory control mechanisms that shape motor behavior. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we will determine the concentration of gammaaminobutyric acid (GABA), the chief inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. In Phase 1, multimodal imaging is used to study interactions between GABA concentration, brain ...
Long-term effects of metal pollution: linking telomere dynamics, biological aging, infection and fitness. University of Antwerp
Inter- and intra-hemispheric interactions within the aging brain and their role in motor behavior KU Leuven
Older adults typically demonstrate bimanual coordination deficits that are at least partially attributed to age-related changes in the structural as well as functional properties of the brain. In this PhD thesis, neural dedifferentiation, i.e. an aging-induced process during which brain activity and connectivity pattern partially loose their selective nature, was critically investigated. In a first part, age-related alterations in functional ...