NEUR

ions | Bruxelles Woluwe, Louvain-la-Neuve

The Clinical Neurosciences division of IoNS is composed of sixteen research groups from Cliniques Universitaires UCL Saint-Luc, CHU Dinant-Godinne UCL and CPS Louvain-la-Neuve UCL. Research is closely interconnected with the clinical activities and utilizes a broad technological repertoire.

NEUR aims at understanding clinical, physiopathological, biochemical, inflammatory, cognitive and social-cognitive, emotional, brain structural and functional dimensions, and neuropharmacological aspects of various nervous/mental disorders. It mainly focusses on studies in humans, but these are also sometimes complemented by preclinical studies.

The main research themes are:

Neurological diseases: stroke (acute management, brain plasticity, non-invasive brain stimulation for therapeutic purpose), inflammatory diseases (in relation with the CSF analysis), neuromuscular disorders, Parkinson’s disease (deep brain stimulation), Alzheimer’s disease (early diagnosis by cognitive evaluation and biomarkers), refractory epilepsy, chronic pain, childhood neurometabolic disorders.
Neuro-otology (cochlear implant induced plasticity, tinnitus) and the chemosensitive platform (neurophysiology, imaging, psychophysics)
Neurosurgical aspects in neuro-oncology , neurovascular disorders, epilepsy surgery (including invasive EEG)
Eye movement, oculomotor as well as neurosensory disorders
Emotional, visual and musical recognition, cognitive, biological aspects in various psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcohol dependency, anxious disorders, depression, eating disorders, gambling.
Neuroimaging studies: brain perfusion imaging, preoperatory MRI in neuro-oncology, functional MRI, thermography, cerebral pathophysiology of stroke, etc. NEUR

Research groups

Principal Investigator: Pietro Maggi

The activity of the Neuroinflammation Imaging Lab (NIL) focuses on characterizing and modelling the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and mimicking neuroinflammatory disorders using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), clinical and laboratory metrics.

Principal Investigators: Stefan Agrigoroaei, Damien Brevers, Philippe de Timary, Céline Douilliez, Pierre Maurage, Pierre Philippot

The Louvain Experimental Psychopathology Research Group (LEP) is focused on the exploration, through a multidisciplinary approach combining experimental psychology and neurosciences, of the psychological and cerebral processes involved in psychopathological states (centrally mood and addictive disorders).

Principal Investigators: Caroline Huart, Philippe Rombaux

Basic, translational and clinical research on chemosensory perception. Our main objectives are (1) to better understand the mechanisms involved in olfactory perception and its disorders, (2) to develop new methods to evaluate olfactory function and (3) to study the link between smell, neurodegenerative disease and aging.

Principal Investigators: Bernard Hanseeuw, Adrian Ivanoiu

The Louvain Aging Brain LAB aims to study the manifestations related to normal and pathological aging, including those caused by Alzheimer's disease and other related diseases.

Principal Investigator: Riëm El Tahry

Our laboratory aims to improve pre-surgical evaluations and optimize vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) treatment for patients with refractory epilepsy by investigating the central and peripheral effects of VNS, supported by clinical and animal research teams.

Principal Investigator: Patrice Finet

The Neurosurgery department is involved in several research areas covering the major neurosurgical fields.

Principal Investigator: Caroline Huart, Philippe Rombaux

The department of Otorhinolaryngology of the Cliniques universitaires Saint- Luc is involved in several research topics in the field of neuroscience, focusing on hearing and chemosensory systems.

Principal Investigator: Maria Roberta Cilio

Although most neonatal seizures reflect acute brain dysfunction secondary to hypoxia-ischemia or stroke, they can represent the presenting sign of epilepsy. Neonatal epilepsies are rare and need appropriate work-up and management.

Principal Investigators: Demet Yuksel, Coralie Hemptinne

Visual system development

Principal Investigator: Marie-Cécile Nassogne

The pediatric neurology involves the care of patients with more common neurological conditions like migraines, epilepsy, or cerebral palsy as well as complex or rare conditions like traumatic brain injury, metabolic disorders, and degenerative neurological conditions.

Team members: Sonia Brichard, Peter Van den Bergh, Nicolas Dubuisson, Michel Abou-Samra

Our group focuses its research on finding new therapeutics drugs for the management of muscular diseases and more specifically on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

Principal Investigator: Susana Ferrao Santos

CUSL Center for refractory epilepsy

CUSL neuroradiology

Principal Investigator: Mona Momeni

This research group aims to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms of perioperative neurocognitive disorders.

Principal Investigator: Yves Vandermeeren

The focus of the Motor Learning Lab (MLL) is to understand how humans control their movements, learn new motor skills, and recover motor control and motor learning after a brain injury such as stroke. Robotics is used to quantify complex behaviours and advanced brain imaging with MRI is used to unveil the neural substrates underlying normal motor control and plastic reorganisation after stroke. This knowledge helps developing the science of neurorehabilitation.

Principal Investigator: Alexandre Heeren

The lab focuses on basic and translational research surrounding the cognitive and affective features of anxiety and stress-related phenomena via quantitative modeling, experimental, and neuroscientific approaches.