Vision and objectives

The laboratory has a fundamental neuroscience research components and a clinical research component. We aim to understand the molecular and cellular aspects of neurological disorders to have a real-world impact on diseases that affect pets and humans alike.

On the fundamental neuroscience aspect, we use pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons, glial cells and cerebral organoids to study pathogenic mechanisms of neurological disorders at the molecular and cellular scale. This implies using different cell culture and differentiation as well as molecular biology techniques. Our goal is to understand how these pathogenic mechanisms impact cerebral development and function.

On the clinical side,  we partner with companion animal patients and their owners at the veterinary teaching hospital (CHUV). Animal patients can be affected by a range of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and inflammatory brain diseases. Some of these disorders are shared with human patients. Our goal is to understand how these diseases arise and progress to develop new therapeutic strategies to prevent or stop these diseases from happening.

The fundamental and clinical research aspects are intricately linked in our laboratory as we strive to generate stem cells from patients themselves to model their disease in vitro. Moreover, discoveries made in these in vitro models are brought back to the clinics in order to develop new therapeutic strategies for the patients.

 

This content has been updated on 24 June 2023 at 17 h 57 min.