The Independent Research Fund Denmark supports talented young researchers at a high international level who are ready to become a research group leader through the Sapere Aude programme. On 30 November 2023, Dmitry Postnov, Assistant Professor at CFIN - Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience at Aarhus University & Aarhus University Hospital is awarded a 4-year Sapere Aude research leader grant of DKK 6.2 million for his project entitled DIABENTIA: Unravelling Microvascular Link Between Diabetes and Dementia - a Pivotal Role of Microvascular Stiffness.

DIABENTIA: Unravelling Microvascular Link Between Diabetes and Dementia – a Pivotal Role of Microvascular Stiffness

Diabetes and dementia are the leading causes of death in Denmark and worldwide. The most prevalent type 2 diabetes is also known to increase the risk of dementia by more than 50%.

In the DIABENTIA project, Dmitry Postnov proposes a hypothesis on the pivotal role of microvascular stiffness in diabetes-associated cognitive decline. He hypothesises that early-stage diabetes can cause an increase in the stiffness of small vessels responsible for regulating the brain's blood flow, leading to a cascade of perfusion disruptions and, consequently, cognitive decline. His group at CFIN will use a unique combination of imaging technologies to study microvascular stiffness and perfusion disruptions in animal models of type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease and translate the knowledge to human physiology.

With the DIABENTIA project Dmitry Postnow and his group aim to provide a groundbreaking characterisation of microvasculature in type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, for the first time establishing how cerebral microvascular stiffness is altered in these diseases and associated with behavioural markers.

Taking it a step further, they plan to enable the transition to human physiology by performing brain and retina imaging in animal models and in patients. At the same time, those aims are linked with physiology, engineering, and data science challenges. A few of the most critical challenges would be interpreting data from animal models and translating it to human physiology, ensuring that microvascular stiffness assessment technology works robustly in clinical settings and establishing the experimental protocols that will allow a direct comparison of brain and retinal microvasculature.

"With DIABENTIA, we will explore the link between Diabetes and Dementia and enable the transition from new hypothesis and technology to the actual mechanisms, diagnostics and treatment. In particular, DIABENTIA will allow a breakthrough in understanding the role of microvascular stiffness in diabetes and dementia, which will provide a new treatment target and enable a new diagnostic method based on non-invasive retinal imaging," explains Assistant Professor at CFIN, Dmitry Postnov.

Read more about the DIABENTIA project at the Independent Research Fund Denmark's website:
https://dff.dk/en/apply/supported-research/research-leaders/research-leader-2023/dmitry-postnov

About the Independent Research Fund Denmark

Read more about all the 2023 Sapere Aude recipients here: 
https://dff.dk/en/current-news-and-events/independent-research-in-denmark-strengthened-with-39-talented-researchers 

About the Independent Research Fund Denmark here: https://dff.dk/en

Contact

Dmitry Postnov, Assistant Professor
E-mail: dpostnov@cfin.au.dk 

CFIN - Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience
Aarhus University & Aarhus University Hospital
Denmark