VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience

CNL in a nutshell

Science Directors: Patrik Verstreken & Joost Schymkowitz and Administrative Director: Hilde Govaert

Neuronal and neurodegenerative disorders affect millions of people worldwide. For most of these diseases, there are no cures, only symptomatic treatments. At CNL, we are working hard to understand the basis of these diseases with the hope to find better treatment options. We explore new molecular mechanisms in the context of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS and dystonia. Together with our tech transfer team, we translate our findings into therapeutic avenues. The brain poses specific challenges for drug delivery as it is shielded by a blood-brain barrier, which is why we are also developing tools to ensure that the drugs we develop can reach their target.

News

Labs

Name
Annaert lab
Function
Lab of membrane trafficking
Name
Bonin lab
Function
Lab of cortical information processing
Name
Chávez-Gutiérrez lab
Function
Lab of proteolytic mechanisms mediating neurodegeneration
Name
Da Cruz lab
Function
Lab of neurophysiology in neurodegenerative disorders
Name
De Strooper lab
Function
Lab for the research of neurodegenerative disease
Name
De Wit lab
Function
Lab of synapse biology
Name
Farrow lab
Function
Neural circuits of vision lab
Name
Haesler lab
Function
Novel, exploration and curiosity lab
Name
Holstege lab
Function
Lab of Cognitively Healthy Aging
Name
Klingler lab
Function
Lab of emotional circuit neuron developmental trajectories
Name
Lim lab
Function
Lab of interneuron developmental dynamics
Name
Liu lab
Function
Lab of sleep and synaptic plasticity
Name
Switch lab
Function
Joost Schymkowitz & Frederic Rousseau
Name
Urban lab
Function
Functional sound imaging lab
Name
Van Den Bosch lab
Function
Lab of neurobiology
Name
Vanderhaeghen lab
Function
Stem cell and developmental neurobiology lab
Name
Verstreken lab
Function
Lab of neuronal communication
Name
Voets lab
Function
Lab of ion channel research
Name
Aerts lab (VIB.AI) - Affiliated lab
Function
Lab of computational biology
Name
Gonçalves lab (VIB.AI) - Affiliated lab
Function
Lab of computational neuroscience and machine learning

Impact on society

Targeting drugs to the brain

Blood Brain Barrier Project

Developing a platform to find nanobody constructs that can cross the blood-brain barrier, as a way of treating brain diseases in the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) project.

Start ups