Dementia Discovery Group

A collaboration between the group of Rik van der Kant (FGA) and Martin Giera (LUMC) has been selected for funding by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Neurodegeneration Network. In the first phase of their project, the researchers will receive $150.000 to establish an atlas of the human lipidome in iPSC-derived neurons, astrocytes and microglia in controls and subjects with mutations associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Alzheimer Nederland awarded a €65 000 fellowship to Lill Eva Johansen for research on the effect of Abca7 mutations associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The work will be performed in human brain cells derived from stem cells that are gene edited using CRISPR technology.

Femke Feringa (FGA) did her PhD in cancer research but decided to switch to neurodegeneration and study why genes involved in immune responses and cholesterol metabolism are among the strongest associations with Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Rik van der Kant (CNCR-FGA) and colleagues report that accumulation of cholesterol in Alzheimer’s disease neurons drives early Tau- and Amyloid pathology, and can be reversed by cholesterol-targeting drugs. Published in Cell Stem Cell.