Main responsible: Gitte Moos Knudsen
This research includes the development and application of neuroimaging techniques, including Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and structural, functional and biochemical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Main responsible: Claus Svarer
The research focus of the data analysis group is development and optimization of sophisticated data analysis methods for PET, MRI and SPECT images of the brain.
Main responsible: Patrick Fisher
At NRU, we apply functional magnetic resonance imaging to extract features of brain function, connectivity and blood flow that we in turn map onto molecular, behavioral and clinical phenotypes as well as pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.
Main responsible: Jens D. Mikkelsen
At the Neurobiology Laboratory we work with different animal models (experimental and transgenic), cell cultures (organotypic and primary hippocampal cultures and different transfected cell lines) and human material to elucidate the role of the serotonergic system in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases like depression and Alzheimer.
Main responsible: Gerda Thomsen
The SPECT laboratory of NRU is located next to the Department of Radiology on the ground floor in the new North Wing of Rigshospitalet. The facility is used both diagnostically and for research purposes.
The laboratory consists of an office, a type B approved isotope laboratory, waiting room facilities for patients, and a scanner room equipped with a new 3-headed dedicated brain SPECT camera (AnyScan) with unique multi-pine-hole collimator. The lab is staffed by two medical technologists.
Contact person: Hanne D. Hansen
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has unsurpassed sensitivity and specificity for measuring neurotransmitter receptors or other protein targets in the living human brain. At NRU we attempt to develop PET radioligands that enable novel and functional measures of different members of the serotonin receptor family. We also evaluate novel radioligands for other neurotransmitter receptors such as the α7 nicotinic receptor and GABAA receptor. Recently, we have engaged in measuring enzymatic proteins such as phosphodiesterases and histone deacetylases allowing us to investigate signal transduction and epigenetic mechanisms, respectively.
Main responsible: Vibe G. Frøkjær
At NRU we use brain imaging methods to work with aspects of human brain biology that are critical for risk mechanisms and manifest psychiatric disorders. We use a multimodal imaging approach, which combines both structural and functional imaging and hold a special expertise in molecular imaging of key features of the serotonin signaling system. A system which is profoundly involved in mood disorders, schizophrenia, neurodegenerative disorders and their treatment.
Contact person: Dea S. Stenbæk
The NRU neuropsychology group aims to investigate how serotonin is involved in psychological components of human health. Especially it focuses on personality, psychopathology and cognition - and furthermore on neuropsychological effects of serotonergic pharmacology such as effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin 2A receptor psychedelic agonists. The scientific goal of the neuropsychology group is to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of neurobiological and psychological factors in human health. This is attained by studying both healthy individuals and patients with various somatic and psychiatric disorders to evaluate risk and resilience factors and how these change in response to treatment.
Main responsible: Lars Pinborg
The integration of NRU in the Neuroscience Centre at Rigshospitalet creates a unique platform for multimodal clinical research in brain disorders (Figure 1). With the fusion of Glostrup Hospital and Rigshospitalet patients are recruited from the largest neurological department in Scandinavia and the Department of Neurosurgery performs the largest number of brain operations in Northern Europe. A large potential exists for a sophisticated use and integration of the imaging modalities, clinical data (psychology, psychiatry and neurology) and biological markers to improve the basic understanding of the pathophysiology of neurological and neurosurgical disease and to improve diagnosis, monitoring of treatment effects and failures, and for making prediction of outcome and prognosis.
Contact person: Peter Steen Jensen
At NRU we have for more than a decade systematically acquired high-resolution brain imaging data (PET, MR, rsMRI, functional MRI) from several hundreds of carefully screened and well-characterized healthy individuals and patients with various neuropsychiatric disorders. Thereby we have been able to build a large cohort database (the Cimbi Database) that contains a wide range of imaging associated data including demographic, neuropsychological, biochemical, genetic and imaging data. The Cimbi biobank is the associated collection of biological specimens from the cohort, including saliva, blood, and in some instances urine and hair samples, which allow for additional biochemical and genetic analyses.
