Name of Fellow

    Prof. dr. S.A.R.B. Rombouts

    Institution

    Funder

    ZonMw

    Contact information of fellow

    Country

    The Netherlands

    Title of project/programme

    Functional Brain Networks: Individual Integrity in Aging and Dementia

    Source of funding information

    ZonMw

    Total sum awarded (Euro)

    € 1,500,000

    Start date of award

    01/09/13

    Total duration of award in years

    6.0

    The project/programme is most relevant to:

    Alzheimer's disease & other dementias

    Keywords

    FMRI | Dementia | Neuroimaging | Functional Brain Connectivity.

    Research Abstract

    The number of dementia patients will steeply increase in the next decades. Individual dementia
    biomarkers are strongly needed for i) early (differential) diagnosis in the stages preceding significant
    cognitive loss, ii) marking disease stage and monitoring disease course and possible treatment
    effects, and iii) guidance for drug development targeting the early phase of the disease. The discovery
    of an early biomarker is considered the holy grail in dementia research.
    With magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), both brain structure, anatomical connections and functional
    brain networks can be studied. Functional brain networks are likely one of the first features of the brain
    to decline in early dementia. However, the other two MRI dimensions provide complementary
    information about brain integrity along the disease course. Based on my previous studies, I expect that
    different (early) stages in dementia and different dementia types can each be characterized by a
    combination of MRI-derived features, contained in a ‘multivariate multidimensional MRI biomarker’.
    In this project I will first apply various cutting edge analysis techniques on these three MRI
    dimensions. I will determine the combination of MRI features with maximal classification accuracy of
    individual patients according to disease severity and dementia type. Next, I will evaluate the sensitivity
    of this biomarker for early diagnosis and prediction of future decline rate using longitudinal studies in
    1) patients with a mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease and patients with
    preclinical Alzheimer’s disease
    2) asymptomatic mutation carriers, destined to develop frontotemporal lobe dementia
    3) a large middle-aged and elderly population of non-demented individuals that is followed for
    incidence of Alzheimer’s disease
    I envision that these innovations will lead to an early individual MRI biomarker that contributes to the
    quality of early dementia diagnosis, is useful for monitoring of disease course and treatment, and will
    provide new leads for drug development studies

Types: Fellowships
Member States: Netherlands
Diseases: Alzheimer's disease & other dementias
Years: 2016
Database Categories: N/A
Database Tags: N/A

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