Platforms
Our institute hosts several technology platforms, mutualized research equipment and testing facilities, including:
- a dedicated neuroimaging platform (NIMA) that provides methodological, statistical and technical support for all stages of human neuroscience studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This platform also ensures training and certification of users carrying out MRI acquisitions in collaboration with the radiology department of the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, and implements MRI-compatible devices for neuroscience studies.
- an animal behavior analysis platform (BEAP) that allows detailed characterization of animal behavior, genetically modified or not, and thereby investigate the pathophysiology of neurological and neuromuscular disorders.
- A multidisciplinary and intersectorial platform (Center of Investigation in Clinical Nutrition, CICN) that conducts human studies to evaluate the effects of eating behavior, food supplements, new food products and diets on health, biological parameters and/or subject perception and receptivity.
The institute has also established a technical team dedicated to the conception, development, implementation and maintenance of research setups for human neuroscience research with state-of-the-art expertise in engineering, electronics and software programming (Cellule d’Appui Technique et Logistique (CATL) - human neuroscience techniques).
Facilities
High-sensitivity biomarker detection (SIMOA and MSD)
Reliable and accurate biomarker detection in biological fluids such as cerebrospinal fluid or blood samples has become a major challenge for patient diagnosis and monitoring. The Meso Scale Discovery’s multi array® technology based on electrochemiluminescence enables the detection of biomarkers in single and multiplex format, suitable for measurements in biological and patient samples. The institute also hosts the SR-X™ Biomarker Detection System developed by Quanterix® that we installed as a platform with technical support. The Simoa® (single molecular array) bead technology offers access to ultra-sensitive biomarker multiplex detection, with low volume requirements. It is currently a gold standard for earlier biomarker detection in blood, serum or plasma, with the ability to quantify proteins in the femtomolar range. This was for instance instrumental to the detection of neurally-derived biomarkers in blood samples from patients with neuropathologies. This equipment is available to the scientific community as part of collaborations or upon request.
CSF and brain biobank
The institute also benefits from a brain biobank led by Prof. Bernard Hanseeuw. In collaboration with the anatomy lab (Benoît Langelé, IREC), we collect human brain tissue of donors with a variety of neurological disorders, but also of non-diseased donors. Part of these postmortem tissues are frozen for biochemical studies while others are fixed in formalin for neuroimaging and histological studies. All brains undergo a complete pathological analysis providing a postmortem diagnosis
Cellular and animal electrophysiology
Study of the electrical properties of excitable cells and ion channels. Conventional electrophysiology techniques: voltage-clamp and current-clamp in whole-cell, cell-attached or inside-out configurations. Extracellular potential measurements in acute brain slices, study the long-term potentiation or depression (cellular mechanism essential for learning and memory formation). Techniques possibly coupled to calcium imaging.
Optimisation of vagus nerve stimulation in different rodent epilepsy models, including kainic acid temporal lobe epilepsy model and genetic absence epilepsy model. Chronic multimodal recording, including EEG ( scalp and intra hippocampal), video, photoplethysmography and vagus nerve electroneurogram.
Characterisation of vagus nerve stimulation biomarkers in patients with refractory epilepsy, using high density scalp EEG, EEG connectivity analysis, pupillometry and P300 evoked potentials.
Intracerebral EEG
Non-invasive brain stimulation
Haptics and sensorimotor coordination lab
Gait analysis lab
Rodent video-EEG setup
Other available research facilities
- UCLouvain biobank
- Clinical Trial Center