Experimental Neurology

Research groups

Representative of the research area

Dr. Yaroslau Compta

ycompta@ub.edu

NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES ARE USUALLY LINKED WITH AGING. THUS, NOWADAYS THERE IS AN IMPORTANT INCREASE IN THESE DISORDERS WITH A STRONG SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL IMPACT IN OUR SOCIETY

Unfortunately, the majority of therapeutic interventions available are merely symptomatic, often with very limited response, whereas disease-modifying and neuroprotective or neuroregenerative treatments are only experimental with precedents in human clinical trials having been unsuccessful so far.

The research area of Experimental Neurology is focused on the study of the nervous system in normal conditions and during neurologic disorders. A close collaboration between basic neuroscientists and clinical neurologists is already established in the Institute of Neurosciences. The Institute, together with the university hospitals, provides a good environment to perform studies about the correlation between genetic markers, cerebrospinal spinal fluid biomarkers and structural, functional and molecular imaging in patients with movement disorders, dementia, autoimmune synaptic disorders and other neurological disorders. Furthermore, the study of the molecular and biological bases of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s chorea, and multiple sclerosis in preclinical stages can provide information for diagnosis, prevention and treatment for these neurological diseases.

Featured projects

• Mención de Excelencia Maria de Maetzu al Institut de Neurociències de la Universitat de Barcelona (UBNEURO). Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad. MDM-2017- 0729. Jordi Alberch

• A Translational Model of Antibody-mediated Synaptic Disease: Symptoms, Neuronal Circuits, and the Mechanisms of Memory Loss and Recovery. Fundació ‘La Caixa’. HR17- 00149. Josep Dalmau

• Non-invasive dynamic neural control by laser-based technology (NEUROPA). European Union. FETOPEN-01-2018-2019-2020. 863214. Merce Masana

• Molecular contents and functional characterization of extracellular vesicles in plasma of Alzheimer¿s disease patients: analysis in response to the ambar treatment. Grifols Worldwide Operations, Ltd. 310562. Eulalia Marti

• Modulation of Tau seeding and pathology in tauopathies by BBB-nanocarriers, epitope selective vaccination and ectoPrP Tau receptor bodies (STOPTauPATHOL). Fundació ‘La Caixa’. HR18-00452. Isidre Ferrer

• CoviD-19 and brain: cognItion and meNtal heAlth (DIANA). Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca. 2020PANDE00053. Carme Junque

• To identify the convergent mechanisms activated by mutant huntingtin and the lack of VPS13A responsible for the selective neurodegeneration of striatal neurons to develop neuroprotective approaches. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. PID2020-119386RB-I00. Jordi Alberch & Manuel Rodríguez

• Investigaciones en la encefalitis anti-NMDAR: nuevo test diagnóstico, papel de la inflamación en un modelo animal, y modulación alostérica de NMDAR como estrategia terapéutica. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. PI20/00197. Josep Dalmau

• Plataforma Traslacional para la AMS: Descubriendo mecanismos patológicos y nuevas dianas terapéuticas: PTra-ADPT. Instituto de Salud Carlos III. AC21_2/00018. Yaroslau Compta

• Network Center for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED)