Dementia is the late clinical manifestation of a disease that often progresses silently for decades before crucial locomotor, behavioural and cognitive processes are being affected. Beyond Alzheimer’s disease, many neurodegenerative disorders can lead to dementia and dementia is therefore referred as an “umbrella” term. In fact, when dementia originates from cerebrovascular defects, it is classified as vascular dementia – which is the end stage of the underlying so-called vascular cognitive impairment. Our research group studies cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD), the most prevalent form of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID).

“You are as young as your blood vessels“

Vascular health is especially relevant for brain function due to the very high density of cerebral blood vessels. This dense and complex vascular network is of major importance for the brain that has a very high energy demand. These cerebral small vessels exhibit special features e.g. to protect the brain (blood brain barrier) and to match cerebral blood flow to local neuronal activity (neurovascular coupling). Upon exposure to chronic cardiovascular risk factors however, such as hypertension and diabetes, the cerebral small vessels are getting damaged, progressively losing their structural and functional integrity. This results into a series of deleterious events such as an increased BBB permeability leading to neuroinflammation but also neurovascular uncoupling leading to local hypoxic injuries.

“We can’t fix what we don’t know”

There has been a tremendous progression in the field to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of cerebral small vessel disease and other VCID pathologies. This is thanks to the integration of several disciplines, a new generation of researchers trained across fields and the awareness of public authorities of the major financial and societal problem caused by dementia. At the same time, while the field is progressing, well supported by new technological means, we dive into the cellular and molecular complexity that are inherent to organisms with millions of years of evolution. We start realising that every cell, previously thought to execute a certain range of functions relevant for a defined cell type, is capable of other specialised functions that may even change from one to another brain area due to diverse environmental cues.

“Glia, more than just brain glue”

Allen & Barres, Nature 2009

Mission

Our research group aims to reveal key pathophysiological mechanisms affecting the glio-vascular unit in cerebral Small Vessel Disease. We hope that our findings will provide new insights for the prevention and treatment of vascular dementia.

Team

Team members

External PhD students

Alumni

Toolbox

• Cardiovascular phenotyping (e.g. in hypertension and diabetes);
• Standard behavioural tasks (EZM, YM, OLT, Barnes maze, …);
• Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (resting CBF, neurovascular coupling);
• 2-photon cranial window imaging;
• Light sheet imaging and analysis of tissue cleared brains;
• Brain microvessel isolation and characterisation;
• Multiplex IHC-IF brain staining, slide scanning and confocal imaging;
• Advanced 2D and 3D image analysis pipelines (e.g. machine learning segmentation);
• Live cell imaging and analysis (Molecular Devices, ImageXpress Pico);
• Basic transcriptomic analyses (bulk RNAseq);
• Standard biomolecular assays (PCR, WB, ELISA)
• …
• Access to high-end platform facilities for other applications (Electron microscopy, Super resolution microscopy, FACS, Sequencing platform, Stem cell facility, Laser Microdissection, …)

Publications

Flagship publications:

Funding

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