Neurosciences
The Department of Neurosciences has a priority interest in finding effective solutions to neuroscience-related challenges affecting the global community. These challenges include debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, among others.
Therapeutic objective
The goal of the research projects is to promote healthy aging and improve cognitive function in affected individuals by minimizing the effects of brain diseases and promoting repair mechanisms. To this end, we focus on bioactive dietary agents of natural origin and design novel therapeutic strategies to specifically target neuropathogenic processes. Since chronic persistence of neuroinflammation is now considered a critical driving force of neurodegeneration, we continue to seek means to therapeutically target disorders that link important areas of neuroscience to immunology (neuroimmunology).
Research approach
Since bioactive nutrients play a crucial role in controlling brain physiology, we analyze nutraceutical agents and investigate the mechanisms of aging based on biomarkers discovered in previous projects, as well as new biomarkers with therapeutic potential. To explore nervous system function and dysfunction, we use disease models that mimic as closely as possible how neuronal cells act, communicate and respond.
In this paper, we employ multiple approaches to investigate neuronal function ranging from the single cell level to the whole organism. Our experimental approaches include the use of cortical, hippocampal and glial cell cultures, brain slices and in vivo models of neurodegeneration. To this end, we use an integrated approach to study the influence of neuroinflammation on behavior, brain physiology and pharmacology.
To preserve learning and memory, and other cognitive functions that may be compromised due to neurodegenerative diseases, some of our research objectives include:
- To investigate whether dietary interventions ameliorate pathogenic processes such as beta-amyloid production, inflammatory processes, aberrant neuronal structure and function, and synaptotoxicity in brain disorders.
- To determine the effects of nutraceutical compounds on activation states and the relationship between microgliosis and reactive astrocytosis that may contribute to temporal changes in glial cell populations during neuroinflammation and thus therapeutic outcomes.
- To dissect the mechanisms and associated epigenetic changes that may lead to altered expression of neural proteins and dysregulated signaling pathways in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and oncogenic processes.