Cognition and Dementia

Unique contributions and highlights

Several projects investigate the underlying mechanisms of early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative diseases:

The EMIF-AD project includes multi-omics biomarker discovery activities in persons across the Alzheimer’s disease spectrum.

The MCI-SNAP study examines the underlying mechanisms of individuals with mild cognitive impairment and tau pathophysiology but without amyloid pathophysiology using cerebrospinal fluid proteomics and imaging.

The NISAD study focuses on the mechanisms of neuronal injury subtypes in early Alzheimer’s disease using cerebrospinal fluid proteomics and genetics.

As part of the PRIME project we investigate the role of insulin signalling as underlying mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease.

The EPI-AD study studies the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the development and course of Alzheimer’s disease.

The BReIN project aims towards identifying individualised multi-omics signatures of Alzheimer’s disease.

The BB-ACL is the biobank of the Alzheimer Centre Limburg, recording consecutive patients from the MUMC+ memory clinic in terms of their clinical outcomes, biomarkers, imaging, health-economic outcomes and demographics. 

The EURLipids project (funded by Interreg) aims to set up a regional cross-border teaching, technology and innovation platform in the Euregion, working together with academic and industrial centers for lipid research.

Other projects examine the underlying mechanisms, such as immune mechanisms, of cerebral small vessel disease in relation to stroke and dementia:

The SVD@target study aims to identify key mechanisms common to multiple small vessel diseases and to validate novel mechanisms through interventions, with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden of small vessel diseases, stroke and dementia.

Vascular dementia and heart failure represent major health burden to morbidity, mortality and quality of life. We are part of CRUCIAL project, a consortium that aims to develop clinical tools to measure rarefaction in brains and hearts. Furthermore, our experimental investigations will clarify the role of microvascular rarefaction in cognitive impairment and heart failure.