Mental Health and Neuroscience Research Institute

Elderly individuals who live alone are particularly vulnerable to prolonged feelings of loneliness. That is why the researchers of the euPrevent PROFILE project addressed loneliness in older people.

Melissa Schepers' doctoral research at Maastricht University and Hasselt University offers hope for the development of a new medication that can halt or restore the limitations of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Operating cataracts in both eyes on the same day instead of with a two-week interval is equally safe but more cost-effective and patient-friendly.

Today, on the Dutch National Bicycle Helmet Day #dagvandefietshelm, we are happy to announce the winners of our contest “𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘖𝘕?”

Professor Koen Schruers was set on studying schizophrenia after graduation – until he was asked to participate in PhD research on panic. He was fascinated. One in four people will suffer a panic attack at least once in their lives, and one in thirty will develop a panic disorder. The phenomenon can...

Oxytocin may be able to support memory in people with Alzheimer’s disease. This is the conclusion of a study led by Maastricht University in which oxytocin was administered to mice with Alzheimer’s-related problems. The research is based on epigenetics, the external effects that turn parts of our...

An organ that disappears almost completely after puberty, but in rare cases can regrow in size and even harbor a tumor: the thymus, also known as the thymus. Physician-researcher Florit Marcuse, affiliated with Maastricht University's Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences, examined this...

The European Commission has awarded €23 million to set up a new platform for drug repurposing: the use of existing drugs in diseases other than those for which they were originally developed. In the next seven years UM will develop the platform REPO4EU (precision drug REPurpOsing for Europe)...

Prof. Frans Verhey appointed Officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau

Dr. Willemijn Jansen has won the Young outstanding researcher Award, the talentprize of Alzheimer Nederland.

As a neuropsychologist she is fascinated by people with brain damage through Alzheimer but without complains. They seems protected by it. Within the Alzheimer Centrum Limburg of Maastricht...

In various hereditary brain diseases, a mutated protein damages brain cells, resulting in deterioration of health, disabilities and death. There is now hope to develop experimental therapies that can inhibit the production or toxic effects of these proteins. A consortium of several organizations...

Frans Verhey, professor of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry is proud of what the Limburg Alzheimer’s Centre has achieved and of its team, which works tirelessly to improve the quality of life of people with Alzheimer’s. “Alzheimer’s tends to be seen as a horrible, deadly brain disease that...

Today marks the official start of the FINGER-NL study, a two-year intervention investigating the effect of a combination of lifestyle modifications on the thinking skills of older people. In the FINGER-NL study, part of the overarching national MOCIA project, five Dutch research centers join forces...

As a physician and clinical researcher, Frederic Schaper has one burning ambition: to create a ‘map’ of the network connections in the brain. The UM alum and his colleagues from Harvard Medical School expect to publish their first, promising results this autumn.

A miniscule area in the brain can help to identify an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease at a very early stage, researchers from Maastricht University found. The locus coeruleus (LC), or blue spot, is hidden deep in the brainstem and can only be detected with advanced MRI equipment.

The Alzheimer Centrum Limburg is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and four PhD students have organized a hiking fundraising for this. From 1 to the 21st of September, until World Alzheimer’s day, we will walk 20 kilometers together with colleagues from the Alzheimer Centrum Limburg!

Last month, a paper was accepted for publication in Neuromuscular Disorders, which was the result of a successful collaboration between NIMHANS and MHeNS, aimed at resolving the genetic causes of mitochondrial disorders and finding novel treatment options.

For the research at Maastricht UMC+ and Erasmus MC to the steering of the bladder from the brains a grant of circa 1 million euro has been awarded from the programme Humane Meetmodellen 2.0. Within this project more effective research methods with human beings are developed and used, which reduces...

Recently, psychiatrist Anne Koopmans (MHeNs) successfully defended her PhD thesis ‘CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genotyping in psychiatry: Bridging the gap between practice and lab’. She chose an all-female opposition to draw attention to the importance of women in higher academic positions.

A collaboration between UM researchers (with co-authors from MHeNs and CARIM) and the international Meta VCI Map consortium resulted in a publication on strategic brain infarct locations predictive of post-stroke cognitive impairment in Lancet Neurology in May 2021. 

'Stopping Alzheimer’s before it starts' is the slogan of a new, nationwide, collaborative project in the Netherlands. The Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, a leader in research into the influence of lifestyle on the prevention of dementia, is one of the participants.

Leakage in the blood-brain barrier is a signal that damage will eventually occur in brain tissue. The stronger the leakage, the greater the damage will be. This is the conclusion reached by scientists at MUMC+ using a new MRI technique.

Dr. Lizzy Boots is a psychologist and has been working as a researcher at the Alzheimer Centre Limburg. Her research focuses on the prevention of overburdening for informal caregivers of people with dementia.

Scientists from Maastricht UMC+ and the German Max Planck Institute have succeeded in stimulating brain areas via a magnetic field in mice injected with electrically charged nanoparticles.

Care for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in dementia patients needs to improve! Sjacko Sobczak works as a psychiatrist in elderly care at Mondriaan and as a senior researcher at MHeNs. 

Maastricht University starts a mental health research project ‘Transition-Journeys’ in close cooperation with other partners in November 2020.

For the first time, in experimental animal models for MS, researchers at Maastricht University (UM) and Hasselt University (UHasselt) have succeeded in restoring the substance myelin, which is degraded by the disease.

Pilar Martinez, newly appointed professor of Neuro-inflammation and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, will deliver her inaugural lecture ‘Lipids and antibodies in neurological and psychiatric diseases’ on Friday 5 October. Four years ago, Martinez began studying the role of lipids – fats – in the brains...

CIN new interfaculty cooperation for Integrative Neuroscience launched

Sandra Schipper and Mark van den Hurk, who both took their PhD in December 2016, received a Rubicon grant from research financing institution NWO. This grant gives young, highly promising researchers the opportunity to gain international research experience