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Title Translational Molecular Brain Imaging in Neurodegenerative Disorders
Course number 3231
Programme Neurovetenskap
Language English
Credits 1.5
Date 2022-03-28 -- 2022-04-01
Responsible KI department Institutionen för neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle
Specific entry requirements No
Purpose of the course The aim of the course is to provide theoretical and practical knowledge about molecular brain imaging techniques applied to neurodegenerative diseases. The course has a translational perspective, incorporating techniques used to visualize brain pathology in vivo by positron emission tomography (PET), and in vitro by autoradiography in post-mortem brain tissues.
Intended learning outcomes At the end of the course the students should be able to demonstrate the ability to: 1) Understand the main brain pathophysiological features of neurodegenerative diseases. 2) Obtain an overview of the latest research findings regarding the evolution of brain pathophysiological changes across different stages of neurodegenerative diseases in relation to cognition, clinical presentation and fluid biomarkers, with a special focus on Alzheimer's disease. 3) Understand how to process, analyze and interpret data from key in vivo and in vitro molecular imaging techniques. 4) Understand how to perform translational research on the relationships between in vivo and in vitro brain pathophysiological findings in neurodegenerative diseases. 5) Apply the knowledge from this course to their own research work.
Contents of the course This course will focus on experimental techniques used in translational molecular brain imaging of neurodegenerative diseases. It will first give the theoretical background for PET/microPET imaging, autoradiography and binding assay, and how they are used to quantify brain pathophysiological processes in neurodegenerative diseases. Then, the course will provide practical knowledge about how the in vivo and in vitro images are collected, processed and analyzed. The in vivo workshops will include practical exercises using brain imaging software for the analysis of PET images in humans, microPET images in transgenic mice, and demonstrations of brain MRI techniques as related to the analysis of PET images. For the in vitro aspect, the students will have demonstrations of radioligand binding assay and autoradiography on human brain tissue used to characterize the binding properties of the PET tracers in order to correlate these with other pathological changes in the brain.
Teaching and learning activities The course is one week full-time and it will be organized as an integration of lectures, practical demonstrations and workshops.
Compulsory elements All parts of the course are mandatory. Absence from any of these will be compensated for by extra individual assignments provided by the course organizers.
Examination All the intended learning outcomes will be assessed by a combination of written examination, written reports for the practical workshops, and oral presentation.
Literature and other teaching material Recommended reading:

1. Lemoine L, Gillberg PG, Bogdanovic N, Nennesmo I, Saint-Aubert L, Viitanen M et al. Amyloid, tau, and astrocyte pathology in autosomal-dominant Alzheimer's disease
variants: AbetaPParc and PSEN1DE9. Mol Psychiatry 2020.

2. Lemoine L, Saint-Aubert L, Nennesmo I, Gillberg PG, Nordberg A. Cortical laminar tau deposits and activated astrocytes in Alzheimer's disease visualised by (3)H-
THK5117 and (3)H-deprenyl autoradiography. Sci Rep 2017; 7: 45496.

3. Leuzy A, Chiotis K, Lemoine L, Gillberg PG, Almkvist O, Rodriguez-Vieitez E et al. Tau PET imaging in neurodegenerative tauopathies-still a challenge. Mol Psychiatry
2019; 24(8): 1112-1134.

4. Masters CL, Bateman R, Blennow K, Rowe CC, Sperling RA, Cummings JL. Alzheimer's disease. Nat Rev Dis Primers 2015; 1: 15056.

5. Mathis CA, Lopresti BJ, Ikonomovic MD, Klunk WE. Small-molecule PET Tracers for Imaging Proteinopathies. Semin Nucl Med 2017; 47(5): 553-575.

6. Nordberg A, Rinne JO, Kadir A, Langstrom B. The use of PET in Alzheimer disease. Nat Rev Neurol 2010; 6(2): 78-87.

7. Perini G, Rodriguez-Vieitez E, Kadir A, Sala A, Savitcheva I, Nordberg A. Clinical impact of (18)F-FDG-PET among memory clinic patients with uncertain diagnosis. Eur J
Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2020.

8. Piel M, Vernaleken I, Rosch F. Positron emission tomography in CNS drug discovery and drug monitoring. J Med Chem 2014; 57(22): 9232-9258.

9. Rodriguez-Vieitez E, Ni R, Gulyas B, Toth M, Haggkvist J, Halldin C et al. Astrocytosis precedes amyloid plaque deposition in Alzheimer APPswe transgenic mouse brain:
a correlative positron emission tomography and in vitro imaging study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2015; 42(7): 1119-1132.

10. Rodriguez-Vieitez E, Nordberg A. Imaging Neuroinflammation: Quantification of Astrocytosis in a Multitracer PET Approach. Methods Mol Biol 2018; 1750: 231-251.

Number of students 8 - 25
Selection of students Selection will be based on 1) the relevance of the course syllabus for the applicant's doctoral project (according to written motivation), 2) start date of doctoral studies (priority given to earlier start date)
More information The course will be held Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 16:00. Final course evaluation will be based on an individual written report related to the practical workshops, and the report will be due approximately one week after the last day of the course.
Additional course leader
Latest course evaluation Course evaluation report
Course responsible Elena Rodriguez-Vieitez
Institutionen för neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle

elena.rodriguez-vieitez@ki.se
Contact person Elena Rodriguez-Vieitez
Institutionen för neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle

elena.rodriguez-vieitez@ki.se