Interdisciplinary Centre Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB)

Tackling neurodegeneration

Despite tremendous progress in medicine in the last decades, doctors are still unable to treat many brain diseases at their cause. The reason? We have not yet understood in detail how these diseases arise. Particularly as the earliest changes in the brain happen decades before any clinical symptoms appear. This is where we focus our research.

Understanding complex biological systems
The human body is a complex biological system which is in constant interplay with the environment. The LCSB aims to shed light on this complexity and to gain a mechanistic understanding of the brain and neurodegenerative disease processes. We want to use the resulting knowledge to develop new ways to diagnose, prevent and treat neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Until the proof-of-principle
To realise this vision, we conduct fundamental research in the field of Systems Biology and Biomedicine – in the lab, in the clinic and in silico. We lead this knowledge development until the proof-of-principle. Then our partners in Luxembourg and worldwide take over to turn our discoveries into concrete therapies and diagnostic procedures for clinical practice.

A glimpse into our research – from bench to bedside

The integration of medicine into systems approaches is important for bridging fundamental research and clinical applications. On the one hand, medical observations in daily care can give valuable new directions to research. On the other hand, a close interaction between basic and clinical research helps to feed research results back into the clinic.

The LCSB supports the training of clinical scientists and provides opportunities for medical doctors to combine research activities with patient care. The centre also works closely together with national research institutions and hospitals. Through strategic partnerships with scientific partners worldwide, we aim to accelerate the translation of fundamental research results into clinical applications.

The people of the centre

Since 2009, the LCSB has recruited many talented scientists, established state-of-the-art infrastructure and fostered interdisciplinarity between computer scientists, mathematicians, biologists, chemists, engineers, physicists and clinicians. We strongly believe that complex problems can only be solved when the best minds from different disciplines come together and form a team.

    Michael Heneka

    Prof. Dr Michael Heneka

    Director

    Anke Vogler

    Anke Vogler

    Head of Operations

    In numbers:

    • 270
      Staff members
    • 18
      Research groups