Projects

Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Huntington’s disease (HD) are disabling neurodegenerative disorders that affect the basal ganglia and multiple other brain regions. Current therapies for both disorders are purely symptomatic. There are no biomarkers yet that objectively quantify the progression of PD and HD in their motor and non-motor domains, and this hampers the development of disease-modifying therapies that slow down PD or HD ...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with only symptomatic treatments but no cures. PD hallmarks are hypokinesia, rigidity, and tremor resulting from dopaminergic cell loss. In addition, PD is characterized by several non-motor symptoms which indicate that also other cell types significantly contribute. Yet we do not have a comprehensive overview of all cell types relevant to PD and the underlying pathways. To study this ...

Parkinson's disease is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by both motor and non-motor deficits. It's cause has not yet been elucidated and no treatment has yet been discovered. The current therapies predominantly relieve motor symptoms. The non-motor deficits include sensory symptoms such as the loss of taste and smell, but also various gastro-intestinal symptoms, including dysphagia, nausea and bloating. In ...

ParkinsonU+2019s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and due to the
lack of early diagnosis and effective therapy, represents a large burden for our society and
healthcare system. The last years, it became increasingly apparent that non-motor symptoms,
including gastrointestinal dysfunction, precede the onset of the typical PD motor symptoms by
over two decades. Moreover, emerging ...

ParkinsonU+2019s disease (PD) is characterized by motor symptoms such as tremor (for example, involuntarily shaking of a patientU+2019s leg) and postural instability. In addition, PD patients have difficulty learning new movement patterns. In this project, we will examine whether these motor problems may relate to problems in cognitive functioning. We will also study the role of medication in this relationship.

Neurodegenerative disorders, have a large impact on social and economic level; they affect quality of life to a large extent and create high financial burden for patients. Until now the only diagnosis for most of the neurodegenerative diseases is based on clinical symptoms, which occur when the disease is already advanced. Thus, available therapy for neurodegenerative disorders is unfortunately purely symptomatic. Therefore apart from ...