Louvain Aging Brain Lab

Bernard Hanseeuw (Principal Investigator)

Adrian Ivanoiu (Principal Investigator)

Clémence Balty (Postdoctoral researcher)

Flo Blondiaux Pirson (Postdoctoral researcher)

Nicolas Delinte (Postdoctoral researcher)

Thomas Gérard (MD, Postdoctoral researcher)

Vincent Malotaux (Postdoctoral researcher)

Lisa Quenon (Postdoctoral researcher)

Jean-Louis Bayart (PhD student)

Graziella de Broqueville (MD, PhD student)

Paul Dulieu (PhD Student)

Guy Gikelekele (MD, PhD student)

Julia Goloubeva (PhD Student)

Lara Huyghe (PhD student)

Adrien Kirsh (MD, PhD student)

Amina Sellimi (MD, PhD student)

Axelle A.T. Vanparys (PhD student)

Youssef Bellaali (Alumni)

Emilien Boyer (Alumni)

Lise Colmant (Alumni)

Nathalie Kyalu Ngoie Zola (Alumni)

Mélina Regy (Alumni)

Yasmine Salman (Alumni)

UCLouvain / Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc collaborations

• Laurence Dricot, Neuroimaging Plateform (NIMA), Institute of NeuroScience, UCLouvain, Belgium.
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• Renaud Lhommel: Nuclear Medicine Department, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc and Institut de recherche expérimentale et clinique (IREC), MIRO Lab, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium. 
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• Philippe Lefèvre: Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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• Benoit Macq, Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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• Pascal Kienlen-Campard: AGing And Dementia lab (AGAD), Institute of NeuroScience, UCLouvain, Belgium.
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• Didier Vertommen: MassProt platform, De Duve Institute, UCLouvain, Belgium.
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• Bernard Gallez & Nicolas Joudiou: Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI), Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Lab, Nuclear & Electron Spin technologies platform, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium.
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• Benoît Lengelé & Catherine Behets : Institut de recherche expérimentale et clinique (IREC), Anatomy Lab, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium. 
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• Valérie Goffaux, Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
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• Dr. Morel Lawson, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium.

National and international collaborations

• Christine Bastin, GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging (Aging & Memory), Liège, Belgium.
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• Dietmar Thal & Sandra Tomé: Leuven Brain Institute, Laboratory of neuropathology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
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• Nikolai Axmacher: Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
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• Nicolas Villain : Institut de la Mémoire et de la Maladie d’Alzheimer (IM2A), Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière & Paris Brain Institute, Paris, France

Research networks

• Amypad (PI: Frederik Barkho, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands).
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• MedResyst (PI: Benoît Macq, Institute for Information and Communication Technologies, Electronics, and Applied Mathematics (ICTEAM), Louvain School of Engineering, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium).
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• Innoviris Translate AD (PI: Sebastiaan Engelborghs, NEUR Research Group, Center for Neurosciences (C4N), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium). 

Fundings 

Fondation Saint-Luc, Fondation Louvain, Fondation Stop Alzheimer

• Clémence Balty: PTauMS - elucidate the role of post-translational modifications of the tau protein in pathogenic tau precipitation
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• Jean-Louis Bayart: Study and explore new blood biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and its differential diagnosis with other neurodegenerative diseases
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• Paul Dulieu: Development and validation of unsupervised remote cognitive tasks targeting the entorhinal/perirhinal networks, combined with plasma biomarkers and tau-PET imaging, for the early screening and longitudinal prediction of preclinical Alzheimer's disease
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• Flo Blondiaux Pirson: Data management & development of a clinical value-driven data-sharing ecosystem for the Translate-AD initiative (Innoviris)
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• Graziella de Broqueville : Use of biomarkers of neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation and cognitive frailty to assess the onset of behavioral symptoms and functional decline in old (frail) individuals with cognitive impairment 
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• Nicolas Delinte: Study of the microstructural properties of the brain via diffusion MRI to create biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease
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• Thomas Gérard:  Integrating [18F]MK-6240 tau PET and blood-based biomarkers for the diagnosis, monitoring and stratification of Alzheimer’s disease
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• Guy Gikelekele : Impact of risk factors and biomarkers on neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals aged 65 years and older according to cognitive status in Kinshasa
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• Julia Goloubeva: Combining biofluid, neuroimaging and neuropathological approaches to better identify LATE in-vivo and distinguish it from Alzheimer’s disease
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• Lara Huyghe: Study of cognitive changes occurring early in Alzheimer's disease and their links with regional deposits of tau protein and other biomarkers of the disease
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• Adrien Kirsh: Post-translational modifications of lysines in Tau (ubiquitination, acetylation): role in protein aggregation and degradation, and potential as biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease
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• Vincent Malotaux: Resting-state fMRI connectivity as a biomarker of tau propagation and cognitive decline across the Alzheimer's disease continuum
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• Lisa Quenon: Deep cognitive phenotyping and plasma analyses to predict early tau aggregation in preclinical AD
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• Amina Sellimi : Biomarkers of inflammation to understand brain haemorrhage in cerebral amyloid angiopathy
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• Axelle A.T. Vanparys: UbiTau - This project investigates the role of ubiquitination impairment as both a biomarker of tauopathies, focusing on human brain and cerebrospinal fluid, and as a causative agent of these diseases, using specific biological models

2026

Hanseeuw, B., Quenon, L., Bayart, J.-L., Boyer, E., Colmant, L., Salman, Y., Gérard, T., Huyghe, L., Malotaux, V., Kienlen-Campard, P., Pirson, F., Lhommel, R., Dricot, L., Ivanoiu, A., Shamsundar, K., Pak, W., Soldo, J., Iqbal, K., & et al. (2026). Tau pathological activity in plasma before the onset of symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. medRxiv, 48. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.03.26350110; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/276997

Salman, Y., Gérard, T., Huyghe, L., Colmant, L., Malotaux, V., Bayart, J.-L., Boyer, E., Blondiaux Pirson, F., Kienlen-Campard, P., Dricot, L., Lhommel, R., Ivanoiu, A., Quenon, L., & Hanseeuw, B. (2026). Amygdala shows heterogeneous atrophy and tauopathy patterns across the AD continuum. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy. Accepted/in-press. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-026-02172-8 ;  https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/280009

Bouchoucha, K., Collin, L., Coquette, C., Colmant, L., Boyer, E., Huyghe, L., Quenon, L., Gerard, T., Salman, Y., Hox, V., Kienlen-Campard, P., Hanseeuw, B., Decottignies, A., & Huart, C. (2026). Olfactory decline tracks central‐to‐peripheral spread of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 22(4), 16. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71402 ; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/276984 

Bellaali, Y., Sulcova, D., Salatino, A., Dricot, L., Hanseeuw, B., Woodard, J., & Ivanoiu, A. (2026). Modulating the default mode network with deep TMS: a proof-of-concept framework with potential relevance to circuits implicated in lack of awareness of cognitive decline. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 18, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2026.1742759 ; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/276986

Tristão-Pereira, C., Langella, S., Baena, A., Londono, N., Sanchez, J., Martinez, L., Alvarez, S., Vidal, M., Aguillon, D., Su, Y., Protas, H., Properzi, M., Malotaux, V., He, B., Giudicessi, A., Reiman, E., Hanseeuw, B., & Quiroz, Y. (2026). Contribution of local amyloid-β and tau burden to hypometabolism in autosomal-dominant Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Communications, 8(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf508; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/276988

2025

Gérard, T., Colmant, L., Malotaux, V., Salman, Y., Huyghe, L., Quenon, L., Boyer, E., Dricot, L., Ivanoiu, A., Lhommel, R., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Tau PET Imaging With [18F]MK-6240: Limited Affinity for Primary Tauopathies and High Specificity for Alzheimer’s Disease. European Journal of Neurology, 32(2), 1. https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.70068; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270574

Colmant, L., Quenon, L., Huyghe, L., Ivanoiu, A., Gérard, T., Lhommel, R., Coppens, P., Salman, Y., Malotaux, V., Kunz, L., Axmacher, N., Dricot, L., Lefèvre, P., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Rotation errors in path integration are associated with Alzheimer’s disease tau pathology: a cross-sectional study. Alzheimer’s research & therapy, 17(1), 34 [1-16]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-025-01679-w; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270558

Huyghe, L., Quenon, L., Salman, Y., Colmant, L., Gérard, T., Malotaux, V., Boyer, E., Dricot, L., Lhommel, R., Woodard, J. L., Ivanoiu, A., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Entorhinal tau impairs short-term memory binding in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1355617725000165; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270569

Huyghe, L., Salman, Y., Colmant, L., Gérard, T., Malotaux, V., Besson, G., Delhaye, E., Bastin, C., Dessain, Q., Dricot, L., Lhommel, R., Ivanoiu, A., Quenon, L., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Preclinical detection of Alzheimer’s disease pathology using conceptual discrimination abilities. The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease, 12(9), 100332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjpad.2025.100332; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270578

Salman, Y., Goloubeva, J., Huyghe, L., Quenon, L., Tomé, S. O., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Specific atrophy patterns distinguish tau and TDP-43 pathology: a longitudinal MRI ante-mortem study. Acta Neuropathologica Communications. Accepted/in-press. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-025-02200-y; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/264816

David, J., Quenon, L., Hanseeuw, B., Ivanoiu, A., Volfart, A., Koessler, L., & Rossion, B. (2025). An objective and sensitive electrophysiological marker of word semantic categorization impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. Clinical Neurophysiology, 170, 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2024.12.018; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/273079

Quenon, L., Rossion, B., Huyghe, L., David, J., Woodard, J. L., Dricot, L., Lhommel, R., Hanseeuw, B., & Ivanoiu, A. (2025). Unfamiliar facial identity discrimination and recognition impairment in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease: A behavioral pattern separation and completion study. Neuropsychologia, 215, 109179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2025.109179; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/245757 

Ossenkoppele, R., Coomans, E. M., Apostolova, L. G., Baker, S. L., Barthel, H., Beach, T. G., Benzinger, T. L. S., Betthauser, T., Bischof, G. N., Bottlaender, M., Bourgeat, P., den Braber, A., Brendel, M., Brickman, A. M., Cash, D. M., Carrillo, M. C., Coath, W., Christian, B. T., Dickerson, B. C., et al. (2025). Tau PET positivity in individuals with and without cognitive impairment varies with age, amyloid-β status, APOE genotype and sex. Nature Neuroscience, 28(8), 1610-1621. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02000-6; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/256574 

Dessain, Q., Delinte, N., Hanseeuw, B., Dricot, L., & Macq, B. (2025). Leveraging Swin Transformer for enhanced diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease using multi-shell diffusion MRI. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1109/tbme.2025.3636745 ; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/266860

Salman, Y*., Huyghe, L*., Quenon, L., Ghysens, O., Malotaux, V., Tomé, S. O., Thal, D. R., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Autopsy-proven patient with corticobasal degeneration presenting with visuo-constructive disorders as initial symptoms: How advanced MRI sequences can help clinical practice. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 104(1), 158-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/13872877251314199; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/247907

Malotaux, V., Salman, Y., & Hanseeuw, B. (2025). Wherever tau pathology starts, propagation will follow brain connections. Brain, 148(11), 3787-3788. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaf350; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/256553

2024

Gérard, T., Colmant, L., Malotaux, V., Salman, Y., Huyghe, L., Quenon, L., Dricot, L., Ivanoiu, A., Lhommel, R., & Hanseeuw, B. (2024). The spatial extent of tauopathy on [18F]MK-6240 tau PET shows stronger association with cognitive performances than the standard uptake value ratio in Alzheimer’s disease. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 51(6), 1662-1674. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-024-06603-2; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/273451

Malotaux, V., Colmant, L., Quenon, L., Huyghe, L., Gérard, T., Dricot, L., Lhommel, R., Ivanoiu, A., & Hanseeuw, B. (2024). Suspecting Non-Alzheimer’s Pathologies and Mixed Pathologies: A Comparative Study Between Brain Metabolism and Tau Images. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 97(1), 421-433. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-230696; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270557

Colmant, L., Boyer, E., Gerard, T., Sleegers, K., Lhommel, R., Ivanoiu, A., Lefèvre, P., Kienlen-Campard, P., & Hanseeuw, B. (2024). Definition of a Threshold for the Plasma Aβ42/Aβ40 Ratio Measured by Single-Molecule Array to Predict the Amyloid Status of Individuals without Dementia. International journal of molecular sciences, 25(2), 1173 [1-17]. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25021173; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/242152

Salman, Y., Gérard, T., Huyghe, L., Colmant, L., Quenon, L., Malotaux, V., Ivanoiu, A., Lhommel, R., Dricot, L., & Hanseeuw, B. (2024). Amygdala atrophies in specific subnuclei in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 20(10), 7205-7219. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.14235; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270561 

 Quenon, L., Collij, L. E., Garcia, D. V., Lopes Alves, I., Gérard, T., Malotaux, V., Huyghe, L., Gispert, J. D., Jessen, F., Visser, P. J., den Braber, A., Ritchie, C. W., Boada, M., Marquié, M., Vandenberghe, R., Luckett, E. S., Schöll, M., Frisoni, G. B., Buckley, C., et al. (2024). Amyloid-PET imaging predicts functional decline in clinically normal individuals. Alzheimer’s research & therapy, 16(1), 130 [1-13]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-024-01494-9; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/270565

Boyer, E., Deltenre, L., Dourte, M., Colmant, L., Paître, E., Sleegers, K., Suelves Caballol, N., Hanseeuw, B., & Kienlen-Campard, P. (2024). Comparison of plasma soluble and extracellular vesicles-associated biomarkers in Alzheimer’s disease patients and cognitively normal individuals. Alzheimer’s research & therapy, 6(1), 141 [1-14]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-024-01508-6; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/263107

David, J., Quenon, L., Hanseeuw, B., Ivanoiu, A., Volfart, A., Koessler, L., & Rossion, B. (2024). An objective and sensitive electrophysiological marker of word semantic categorization impairment in Alzheimer’s disease. Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, 170, 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2024.12.018; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/239663 

Dubois, B., Villain, N., Schneider, L., Fox, N., Campbell, N., Galasko, D., Kivipelto, M., Jessen, F., Hanseeuw, B., Boada, M., Barkhof, F., Nordberg, A., Froelich, L., Waldemar, G., Frederiksen, K. S., Padovani, A., Planche, V., Rowe, C., Bejanin, A., et al. (2024). Alzheimer Disease as a Clinical-Biological Construct—An International Working Group Recommendation. JAMA Neurology, 81(12), 1304-1311. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.3770; 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.3770 

Regy, M., Dugravot, A., Sabia, S., Helmer, C., Tzourio, C., Hanseeuw, B., Singh-Manoux, A., & Dumurgier, J. (2024). The role of dementia in the association between APOE4 and all-cause mortality: pooled analyses of two population-based cohort studies. The lancet. Healthy longevity, 5(6), e422-e430. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2666-7568(24)00066-7; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/248720

2023

Kyalu Ngoie Zola, N., Balty, C., Pyr dit Ruys, S., Vanparys, A., Huyghe, N., Herinckx, G., Johanns, M., Boyer, E., Kienlen-Campard, P., Rider, M. H., Vertommen, D., & Hanseeuw, B. (2023). Specific post-translational modifications of soluble tau protein distinguishes Alzheimer’s disease and primary tauopathies. Nature Communications, 14(1), 3706 [1-17]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39328-1; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/242042 

Malotaux, V., Dricot, L., Quenon, L., Lhommel, R., Ivanoiu, A., & Hanseeuw, B. (2023). Default-Mode Network Connectivity Changes During the Progression Toward Alzheimer’s Dementia: A Longitudinal Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. Brain Connectivity, 13(5), 287-296. https://doi.org/10.1089/brain.2022.0008; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/105890

Lebrun, L., Hanseeuw, B., Van Pesch, V., & Ivanoiu, A. (2023). Alzheimer disease’s cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers differences between immigrants and natives in a Belgian memory clinic. Acta Neurologica Belgica, 123(2), 537-544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-022-02143-4; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/218549

Hanseeuw, B., & Johnson, K. A. (2023). Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease: how to predict who will decline next year? Brain communications, 5(2), fcad079 [1-3]. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcad079; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/241493

2022

Régy, M., Dugravot, A., Sabia, S., Fayosse, A., Mangin, J.-F., Chupin, M., Fischer, C., Bouteloup, V., Dufouil, C., Chêne, G., Paquet, C., Hanseeuw, B., Singh-Manoux, A., & Dumurgier, J. (2022). Association of APOE ε4 with cerebral gray matter volumes in non-demented older adults: The MEMENTO cohort study. NeuroImage, 250(1), 118966 [1-8]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118966; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/27478 

2021

Hanseeuw, B., Malotaux, V., Dricot, L., Quenon, L., Sznajer, Y., Cerman, J., Woodard, J., Buckley, C., Farrar, G., Ivanoiu, A., & Lhommel, R. (2021). Defining a Centiloid scale threshold predicting long-term progression to dementia in patients attending the memory clinic: an [18F] flutemetamol amyloid PET study. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 48(1), 302-310. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-020-04942-4; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/120425

Bellaali, Y., Woodard, J. L., Hanseeuw, B., & Ivanoiu, A. (2021). Spouse-Appraised Memory Functioning Predicts Memory Decline Better Than Subjective Memory Complaints in Community Dwelling Older Adults at Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 633102 [1-9]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.633102; https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/109536