In 2013, the VELUX foundation founded the Aarhus Research Center for Brain Aging and Dementia (ARCADIA) project, lead by Leif Østergaard, with a grant of 9,8 million DKK. Following the success of this project, the VELUX Foundation has decided to support its continuation: ARCADIA II.

ARCADIA II will test a new theory on the causes of age-related cognitive impairment and dementia. At the same time, the project will develop and test methods that are sensitive to microscopic disease changes in the brain – providing information about early brain changes not available today.

ARCADIA researchers have discovered an unexpected limitation in the brain’s ability to extract oxygen from the blood – the so-called capillary dysfunction.

With the new grant from the VELUX Foundation, researchers from a across disciplines will be able to develop advanced scanning methods and data models that will make it possible to measure capillary dysfunction and learn more about what it means to brain aging.  

Contact

Professor Leif Østergaard
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical medicine
Aarhus University Hospital, Center of Functionally integrative neuroscience (CFIN)
78 46 40 91
leif@cfin.au.dk