Post-doctoral researcher in the Translational Neuroscience team at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine

The University of Luxembourg is an international research university with a distinctly multilingual and interdisciplinary character.

The Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) is an interdisciplinary research centre of the University of Luxembourg.
We conduct fundamental and translational research in the field of Systems Biology and Biomedicine – in the lab, in the clinic and in silico. We focus on neurodegenerative processes and are especially interested in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and their contributing factors. The LCSB recruits talented scientists from various disciplines: computer scientists, mathematicians, biologists, chemists, engineers, physicists and clinicians from more than 50 countries currently work at the LCSB. We excel because we are truly interdisciplinary, and together we contribute to science and society.

The Translational Neuroscience team's focus lies in the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for PD, aimed at bridging the gap between fundamental research and integrative clinical care by embedding the “from bench to bed” research approach. Fundamental research focuses on iPSC-derived neuronal models to elucidate the molecular and cellular alterations contributing to neurodegeneration in familial and idiopathic forms of PD, Dementia with Lewy bodies, atypical parkinsonism, and rare neurological diseases. Newly discovered molecular targets and disease-associated cellular phenotypes are used as readouts in drug screening approaches, to identify molecules that, after in vitro and in vivo validation, could be potentially used in future intelligent clinical trials.

About the SIMPATHIC Project:

The SIMPATHIC project is dedicated to optimizing drug repurposing to address unmet medical needs in rare diseases. Our novel approach involves the simultaneous development of repurposed drugs across different rare diseases with overlapping molecular and clinical characteristics. Key project objectives include:

• Developing standard operating procedures for stem cell-derived neuronal models
• Identifying new drug repurposing candidates using brain-on-a-chip and 3D brain organoid models
• Designing innovative basket clinical trials for patients with distinct genetic diagnoses but shared pathomechanisms
• Creating patient empowerment strategies to involve patient communities in drug development