Department of Head and Skin

Movement disorders

Background and research focus

Background

Research on Movement Disorders is heterogeneous and interdisciplinary. Over the years multiple interactions have been explored to develop ambitious and innovative research in clinical aspects, neurophysiology and neuromodulation. This includes clinical, translational as well as fundamental research with partners within and beyond the faculty and the university.

Research focus

  • Clinical scientific research on movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease, parkinsonism, Huntington's disease
  • Cognitive and linguistic aspects in Parkinson's disease and related disorders
  • Genetics of movement disorders
  • Gut-brain interactions in Parkinson's disease and the potential of faecal microbiota transplantation
  • Deep brain stimulation and deep brain registration in movement disorders
  • Clinical and translational aspects of movement disorders in animals and animal models

Members

Professors and Guest Professors

Patrick Santens (contact person)

Miet De Letter (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences)

Bart Dermaut (Department of Biomolecular Medicine)

Debby Laukens (Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics)

Marijke Miatton (Department of Head and Skin)

Roosmarijn Vandenbroecke (Department of Biomedical molecular biology)

PhD candidates

Arnout Bruggeman (Department of Biomedical molecular biology/Department of Neurology Ghent University Hospital) 

Heleen Van Laeken (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences)

Niels Knockaert (Department of Rehabilitation Sciences)

National and international collaborations

  • Interfacultary collaboration with department of experimental psychology: parkinson's disease, dopamine, behaviour.
  • Interfacultary collaboration with department of small animals, faculty of veterinary medicine (prof. Sofie Bhatti): paroxysmal dystonia, dogs, genetics.
  • KUL, experimental neurophysiology (prof. Vanhulle): parkinson's disease, deep brain registration, EEG.
  • Interuniversity collaboration with Antwerp University (prof. Crosiers, prof. De Hertogh) on cervical dystonia
  • Collaboration in the VIB-grand challenges project CUPIDGUT with UZ Leuven and Leiden University Medical Center

Defended PhDs (last 5 years)

Identifying Genetic Causes of Unexplained Rare Neurological Disorders
Nika Schuermans (2025)

Development of New Analytical Methods for High-Precision K Isotopic Analysis and the Investigation of Essential Elements Cu, Fe, Zn and K in the Context of Alzheimer’s Disease via Multicollector Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry
Kasper Hobin (2024)