As part of its Gipuzkoa Science,Technology and Innovation Network Program, the Charter Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa has awarded funding to the MIELIMAGEN project led by CIC biomaGUNE’s Ikerbasque research professor Pedro Ramos-Cabrer. The MIELIMAGEN project aims to study the role played by myelin in cognitive impairment processes; myelin is a substance that surrounds and protects the axons of neurons and its main function is to increase the speed of nerve impulse transmission. In the project, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Lab team will be studying the role of myelin in the processes of mild cognitive impairment, naturally associated with healthy aging, and comparing it with severe cognitive impairment associated with pathological neurodegeneration processes (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, vascular dementia, multiple sclerosis, etc.).
“If we are better acquainted with how demyelination processes affect the structure and functioning of neuronal networks in healthy and pathological subjects, we will be able to design early diagnostic tools to detect neurodegenerative diseases earlier and develop more effective therapies to combat them,” explained Pedro Ramos, head researcher of the aforementioned research group.
This is a preclinical research project applied in animal models of aging and in models of neurodegenerative diseases; it is based on the use of functional neuroimaging techniques, which will be carried out entirely in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Lab. “As this will be conducted using non-invasive functional imaging techniques, we hope that the new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques emerging from our research will be directly transferable to the clinical setting in the near future,” said the Ikerbasque research professor. In this work, Dr David Otaegui of the Multiple Sclerosis group at the Biodonostia Health Research Institute will be collaborating with CIC biomaGUNE.
The grants awarded through the GIPUZKOA NEXT program run by the Charter Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa seek to support centers in the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network of Gipuzkoa as they develop R&D projects geared towards the lines included in the Euskadi Next Basque Recovery and Resilience Program for recovery, transformation and resilience, which aims to promote, strengthen and take advantage of synergies generated in these areas. The 2022 call has focused on the field of cognitive impairment prevention and is directly related to the Adinberri strategy, which aims to achieve healthier aging.