Aarhus University Seal

ARCADIA - funding from The VELUX Foundation to Professor Leif Østergaard

Professor Leif Østergaard, head of CFIN and MINDLab has received funding for ARCADIA - an aging and dementia research project at Aarhus University

Center leader at CFIN and MINDLab, Professor Leif Østergaard has received 9.850.000 DKK from The VELUX Foundation. The grant is going to be used to uncover causes of the cognitive decline that accompanies aging and dementia.

The center's researchers have recently discovered an unexpected limitation in the brain's ability to obtain sufficient amounts of oxygen from the bloodstream - so called capillary dysfunction. With the grant from VELUX, researchers from different scientific disciplines will be able to develop advanced imaging techniques and data models that will enable the measurement of capillary dysfunction and it's role in human brain function.

In the long-term, the project will identify the molecular and cellular processes that causes the phenomenon and establish it's extent in humans. Based on this knowledge the researchers hope to illuminate how cognitive decline and dementia in the elderly can be prevented and treated.

Read more in the Danish press release