Modelling Alzheimer’s disease with 3D human multicellular brain organoids
The project aims to develop an innovative in vitro ‘mini-brain’ model of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS).
The focus of the team of Laurent Nguyen and Ira Espuny Camacho is to unravel early disease phenotypes in human neurons such as defects in axonal trafficking and synapse alterations that may precede late stages of neurodegeneration and cell death. They will dissect the contribution of different brain cells to the pathology and screen for cell type-specific disease signatures as early and late markers of disease. Together, these efforts should shed light on early pathological mechanisms and allow for the design of new therapeutical approaches for Alzheimer’s disease.
The Fondation Recherche Alzheimer
The "Alzheimer Research Foundation" is a Belgian non-profit organization active since 1995 in the promotion of scientific research on Alzheimer's disease, in collaboration with the King Baudouin Foundation. Its main objective is to provide financial support for basic, clinical and diagnostic scientific research into the causes and treatment possibilities of Alzheimer's disease and related brain diseases.