Disease-Modifying Targets in Neurodegenerative Disorders Paving the Way for Disease-Modifying Therapies

Disease-Modifying Targets in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Paving the Way for Disease-Modifying Therapies examines specific neurodegenerative disorders in comprehensive chapters written by experts in the respective fields. Each chapter contains a summary of the disease management field, subsequently elaborating on the molecular mechanisms and promising new targets for disease-modifying therapies.

This overview is ideal for neuroscientists, biomedical researchers, medical doctors, and caregivers, not only providing readers with a summary of the way patients are treated today, but also offering a glance at the future of neurodegenerative disorder treatment.

1. The multitude of therapeutic targets in neurodegenerative proteinopathies 2. Synuclein misfolding as a therapeutic target 3. Neuroinflammation as a therapeutic target in neurodegenerative diseases 4A. Stem cells in neurodegeneration: mind the gap 4B. The potential of stem cells in tackling neurodegenerative diseases 5. Preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease for identification and preclinical validation of therapeutic targets: from fine-tuning strategies for validated targets to new venues for therapy 6. Parkinson’s disease 7. Lewy body dementia 8. Frontotemporal dementia 9. From huntingtin gene to Huntington’s disease-altering strategies 10. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: mechanisms and therapeutic strategies

She was appointed Assistant Professor at the KU Leuven in 2003 and in 2007, as full-time Research Professor (BOF-ZAP). She is now Head of the Laboratory for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy. Her research focuses on disease modeling and therapy for Parkinson’s disease using viral vectors in cell culture and in vivo. The underlying rationale is that the generation of more relevant models in cells and in pre-clinical model brain will lead to a better insight into the molecular pathogenesis of PD and to the development of new therapeutic strategies and drugs.
Dr. Evy Lobbestael obtained her Master’s degree in biomedical sciences in the Faculty of Medicine at the KU Leuven. She completed her PhD training in the laboratory for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy at the KU Leuven under the supervision of Prof. Baekelandt, after obtaining a PhD scholarship from the Research Foundation Flanders. Her doctoral research focused on the function and dysfunction of the Parkinson’s disease-linked gene LRRK2. Besides the development of multiple tools to study LRRK2 including anti-LRRK2 antibodies, LRRK2-encoding lentiviral vectors, and cell lines, she identified protein phosphatase 1 as a physiological regulator of cellular LRRK2 phosphorylation. Currently, she continues her LRRK2 research as a post-doc with a focus on LRRK2 signaling.

• Provides a comprehensive overview of how key proteins in neurodegenerative disorders can be used as targets to modify disease progress
• Summarizes how patients are treated today, providing a glance at future disease management
• Includes intelligible and informative information that is perfect for non-specialists, medical practitioners, and scientists
• Written and peer reviewed by outstanding scientists in their respective fields