Alzheimer Center - Clinical approach

Director: Philip Scheltens

Evaluating the current available resources there is extensive expertise from clinic, patient cohorts, phenotyping, biomarkers, (early) diagnostic markers, neuroanatomomy, neuropathology, transcriptomics, proteomics, gene finding, functional characterization, cellular, animal models and therapeutic approaches. The basis of our clinical projects is the database of the Alzheimer center which contains over 3000 patients/subjects to date and is still being filled with 12 new cases every week. Clinical, neuroimaging (MRI), neuropsychological and biomarker (CSF, blood, urine) data are gathered and stored. The clinical research lines encompass research into early onset dementia, early diagnosis and longitudinal follow up and vascular factors.

Within VU medical center there is a long history of research on neurodegenerative disease. General strengths have been the patients resources, the imaging and biobanking. In 2003 an external evaluation committee made recommendations to strengthen the ties between clinic, fundamental research and to benefit from recent investments in genetics. Since then new successful collaborations have started which is reflected in the number of interdisciplinary projects listed above. More recently also collaborations have started with researchers from the CNCR strengthening especially the cell biological work. The success of these developments is reflected in the success of obtaining research funding from for example Parelsnoer, CTMM, Ti-Pharma and IOP-Genomics.

The work on Alzheimer's Disease has become a truly multidisciplinary research theme and we aim to continue and strengthen the process of collaboration between clinic, genetic and functional research by supporting especially the multidisciplinary projects listed above.