BredaLab Research
As global life expectancy increases, thanks to better living conditions and progress in medicine, neurogenerative diseases are proportionally increasing. These pathologies affect primarily the neurons in the human brain causing their progressive degeneration and death. Loss of cognitive abilities like memory and decision-making, motor skills and sleep disturbances are only a few examples of the clinical manifestations of these pathologies. Thus the identification of markers to diagnose neurodegenerative disorders at early stages as well as the development of new therapeutic strategies to cure them is of paramount importance.
Recently, the lab has started to work on neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism
NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES
Neurodegenerative diseases are characterised by a progressive loss of structure or function of neurons mainly in the brain which ultimately causes their death. While neurodegenerative disorders affect patients in different ways and are characterised by specific clinical hallmarks, they share several similarities in the pathways that are perturbed. One of the main molecular features of Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease is the presence of abnormal misfolded protein aggregation in the neurons (proteinopathy). Moreover, vesicle trafficking, synaptic plasticity, neuronal communication, mitochondria and the kynurenine pathway are not correctly functioning in these pathologies. Hence, while a cure for these disorders is not available yet, therapeutic interventions targeting one of these cellular mechanisms may not only be beneficial to one pathology but may be the solution for treating other diseases as well.
SLEEP and HEALTH
Sleep is an indispensable mechanism that is highly conserved in the animal kingdom. Indeed, all animals sleep including fruit flies. Unfortunately, modern society’s rhythm and pace are affecting people in different ways including their sleep. Evidence suggests that sleep alterations contribute to the development of several medical conditions such as metabolic, psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. In this latter case, sleep dysfunctions are observed in patients even before a diagnosis is provided to them. At the present, it is not clear if sleep disturbances are a consequence of the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, or whether they are a cause for the onset. Hence, this line of research is trying to answer the following questions:
- How is sleep influenced in neurogenerative pathologies?
- Which are the mechanisms causing sleep dysfunctions in patients with neurodegenerative and mental disorders?
- Can sleep be a therapeutic strategy in these conditions?