Research Kurt Boonen

Abstract

The way we practice medicine now and in the near future will be different. One the one hand we have the ever decreasing costs of revolutionary technologies such as genomics, proteomics, wearables and miniaturization of laboratory tests such as ELISAs and PCR-based biomarker detection (among many other inventions). On the other hand, there is the trend to apply these technologies on a larger scale and transform medicine in a data-rich science, where high-quality data from large cohorts will be used to gain new insights into diseases. This will lead to better and earlier diagnostics. The ultimate goal is preventing diseases, by taking preventive measures before the onset of a disease. This revolution in data gathering and also poses new ethical questions: First of all, pose these new technologies privacy risk for participants in the study? Second, how do we manage this sometimes sensitive data and who does actually owns it? How do we ask for consent in large cohorts with many different data types? What about incidental findings? The pilot study "I am Frontier" puts us in a good spot to provide answers and recommendations for these questions since we will have will many different data types (from genomics and proteomics to clinical and lifestyle data) of all participants and we can also chart their expectations and experiences. Especially for proteomics, we want to chart the privacy risks of this data type since, for now, it is considered non-personal data.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hens Kristien
• Co-promoter: Boonen Kurt

Research team(s)

• Center for Ethics

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

One of the best-studied examples of experience- and age-dependent modifications of neuronal circuits in the brain is ocular dominance plasticity. Although it is involved in the reactivation of the binocular visual cortex after the loss of one eye, it does not explain the recovery of the simultaneously deprived monocular zone. This suggests brain region-specific modifications of the circuitry and/or molecular pathways to cope with the sensory deprivation. Cross-modal plasticity through other sensory modalities can reactivate deprived cortex but the anatomical pathways are not known in detail. In this project, we will identify their precise location to perform pathwayspecific activation and inactivation in order to determine the exact contribution of whisker inputs to the activation of visually deprived areas in the mouse. We will also determine the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed cortical zone-specific recovery in order to identify potential pharmacological targets to potentiate/suppress cross-modal inputs. Their behavioral relevance will also be investigated. In sum, this project will thus shed light on the structural, molecular, functional and behavioral aspects of cross-modal plasticity in the mammalian brain as a basis towards effective therapy for multisensory integration deficits.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Boonen Kurt
• Promoter: Valkenborg Dirk

Research team(s)

Project type(s)

• Research Project