Projects
Distractibility after acquired brain injury: advancing diagnosis and identifying biomarkers KU Leuven
Acquired brain injury patients frequently report an increased sensitivity to sensory stimuli following their brain injury compared to their pre-injury state (i.e., post-injury sensory hypersensitivity). Since post-injury sensory hypersensitivity can negatively impact quality of life, it is crucial to have appropriate assessment and treatment methods. However, adequate assessment and treatment is hindered by a lack of appropriate diagnostic ...
The obese brain: the relationship between brain structure, neurocognitive functioning and motor coordination in obese children Ghent University
This proposal will be carried out in the Motor Control research group led by Prof. M. Lenoir. In this group the main focus is on motor competence in children and adolescents (typically developing, DCD, gifted children, athletes) with about 10 ongoing PhD projects. The group is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers to focus on the mechanisms of lower motor competence in obese (OB) children and has a long-standing research ...
Dendritic mitochondrial energy channeling as driver of successful axonal regeneration? KU Leuven
Treating ischemic and traumatic central nervous system (CNS) insults as well as neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma, is one of the leading medical and socioeconomic challenges faced by our aging society. These currently incurable conditions lead to progressive neuronal degeneration and irreversible impairments in the adult mammalian CNS, as damaged neurons cannot be repaired, ...
Promoting central nervous system regeneration. Genes that make a difference. KU Leuven
Head impact biomechanics for protecting the active ageing population KU Leuven
In Europe, the incidence of fatal and hospitalized traumatic brain injury (TBI) is 262/100.000/year. Lately, a significant increase in the proportion of elderly patients suffering TBI has been observed. This can be explained by changing demographics, better health status allowing them to remain fully active, but also by the presumed mechanical vulnerability of the ageing brain and surrounding tissues.
While staying active is rightfully ...
Diagnostics and recovery of neuromotor function following a traffic accident in children: study of neural structure-function relations with respect to movement coordination. KU Leuven
Does it all start with a head impact? Biomechanical analysis of post-traumatic neurodegenerative diseases KU Leuven
Neurodegenerative diseases form a large health problem worldwide for which currently no treatment exists. Neurodegeneration is related to the spreading of toxic misfolded proteins (prions) through the brain, causing cell death. Lots of studies have approached this complex problem from a clinical, biological or molecular point of view, but the mechanisms behind the development of these diseases are still poorly understood. This project will ...
Advanced modelling of cerebrovascular autoregulation lab animal data to build a patient autoregulation monitor KU Leuven
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to devastating consequences for the patient and his/her family. TBI is also the number one cause of death and disability in young people. Moreover, a TBI often impairs cerebrovascular autoregulation, a protective homeostatic physiological mechanism that ensures sufficient cerebral blood flow under varying conditions, which has been recognized as an important threat to good outcome after TBI. Consequently, ...
Tau-dependent synaptic remodeling in health and disease KU Leuven
Tau is a neuronal microtubule-associated protein under normal conditions. However, stressful triggers like toxic protein aggregates or traumatic brain injury can cause its detachment and invasion of synaptic terminals, leading to synapse loss. Interestingly, cold stress-induced torpor in hamsters also results in Tau detachment and massive synapse loss, indicating that Tau may be responsible for executing stress signals that cause synapses to ...