Faculty Hospital Motol, Prague
Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
2nf Faculty of Medicine, Charles University
FOCUS AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
– Biomarkers, risk factors and modifiers of neurodegeneration with cognitive impairment: Develop and cross-validate translational diagnostic tests aimed at spatial memory
There is a growing worldwide effort to find novel simple, reliable and cost-effective markers being able to detect and monitor subtle cognitive changes in very early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) because the treatment influencing AD pathological processes is most effective in the early clinical stages. Spatial navigation is a cognitive process that relies on brain regions that are first affected by AD pathology. Therefore, spatial navigation impairment is a very promising early marker of AD. The advantage of using spatial navigation as a measure of cognitive performance is that it can be tested using similar paradigms in humans and rodents and thus offers a unique opportunity for translational research which would be useful for both the clinical diagnosis and research of new potential therapies.