Alzheimer’s: promising Belgian research!

Jill Vandewall is a senior researcher FNRS and associate professor at Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory the Cyclotron Research Centre from’Giga Institute from’Oleg. His research, which uses neuroimaging, focuses on the physiology of sleep.

He will begin work on the Sleep-Connection research project, which is financially supported by Alzheimer’s Research Foundation Thanks to ” Standard Scholarship 2022 “For 3 years. One of the goals is to find out if the deterioration of sleep quality is associated with a weak (very) genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease and can announce the arrival of symptoms of the disease. One of the originality of the project is to include young people, from the age of 20, that is, people who, if Develop it, they can be affected by Alzheimer’s disease in just 40 to 60. The research conducted by Jill Vandewall’s team is whether improving sleep can delay or even prevent it.

To conduct this research and better understand the role of sleep in the early brain damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Gilles Vandewalle plans to record the brain activity of 130 people when they are awake and while they sleep. A recording of the brain activity of these healthy adults, ages 20 to 70, will be linked to a genetic risk of developing the disease. Registration will be done through photos by 7 Tesla fMRI (7T fMRI) ultra-sharp device, available at ULiège.

Here is a brief description by Gil Vandewall of his project:

” The SLEEP-CONNECTION project aims to study the link between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Sleep quality deteriorates during aging and the degree of sleep deterioration is associated with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, making sleep a promising new target for intervention to prevent or delay Alzheimer’s disease. However, a full understanding of the mechanisms involved is essential before an effective intervention can be designed. The main goal of SLEEP-CONNECTION is to determine how the activity of brain networks during sleep may contribute to the early neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease. […] The project will provide key insights into the role of sleep in early brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease and brain dysfunction during sleep that can shape AD pathways across the lifespan. “

Explore this research project on video.