Schöllgroup:Research
Neurodegenerative diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose early and there is still no cure available for dementia disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Biomarkers derived from imaging modalities such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as well as biomarkers based on the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood, have become immensely important especially for the early identification of individuals who are likely to develop a neurodegenerative disorder, since an established notion is that potentially successful treatments should be deployed as early as possible in the disease process.
This early identification of neuropathological processes using adequate biomarkers currently not only supports reliable clinical diagnoses but also serves the recruitment of suitable candidates for clinical treatment trials, and renders possible the application of these biomarkers as outcome measures in treatment trials.
In particular the recent development of methods to map the accumulation of conformationally faulty forms of proteins and the subsequent synaptic impairment in vivo using PET has profoundly changed the way these processes can be identified at an early, presymptomatic disease stage. The Schöll group is using the most recent developments in molecular imaging by means of PET in combination with other neuroimaging- and fluid-based biomarkers, as well as neuropsychological profiling to develop holistic, validated, and usable tools for such an early identification.
Collaborations The establishment of the Schöll group was strongly coupled with the recent inauguration of the Imaging- and Intervention Center (Bild- och Interventionscentrum – BoIC) at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, which for the first time offers resources for research involving molecular imaging modalities in West Sweden.
The group has furthermore established extensive national collaborations with researchers and clinicians at the University of Gothenburg / The Sahlgrenska University Hospital, and with researchers at Lund University, the Karolinska Institute, and Umeå University. Internationally, the group collaborates actively, amongst others, with researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, University College London, Stanford University, and McGill University
