Research

Research Priorities: Cerebral changes, neurodegenerative diseases, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, strategies of prevention, healthy aging

Monique Breteler is a neuroscientist. Her focus is on the changes of the brain over a course of a lifetime. Specifically, she investigates the causes of neurodegenerative diseases as well as the principles for healthy aging. Monique Breteler develops strategies to prevent age-related diseases and contributed to an understanding of Alzheimer’s disease as a complex medical condition.

Dementia illnesses emerge from an interplay of various factors and develop over decades. Well before emblematic changes like memory disorders one can observe bodily changes in the patient. Monique Breteler researches the role of metabolic defects, infections, genetic factors, and habits in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Together with her team, she works towards the identification of the causal mechanisms of these diseases. Building on that, she wants to develop measures that could inhibit or delay age-related diseases (aetiological research). Another area is the risk prediction for vulnerable persons.

Early on, Monique Breteler advanced large-scale population studies, which employed imaging methods (magnetic resonance imaging) to examine the brain. She conducts one of the larges studies on dementia in Germany with the so-called Rheinland-Studie. The project started in 2016 and is set to last thirty years. Up to 30 000 people from the age of thirty are expected to be analysed regularly according to various factors. With that, Monique Breteler wants to identify which parts of the population are especially vulnerable to dementia. Based on its findings, the study aims to develop preventive measures against cerebral diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or depression.

Career

• since 2011 Director Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
• since 2011 Professor of Population Health Sciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
• 2003-2011 Professor of Neuroepidemiology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• since 2002 Adjunct Professor for Neuroepidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA
• 2000-2003 Associate Professor of Neuroepidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 1996-2011 Director of Neuroepidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 1996-2000 Associate Professor of Neuroepidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 1993 PhD, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 1989-1993 PhD Student, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 1987 Medical Doctor (MD), Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
• 1983 Master of Science in Medicine, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
• 1978-1987 Studies in Medicine, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Functions

• since 2017 Member, Oversight Board, Dementia Platform, UK and Medical Research Council (MRC), UK
• since 2017 Member, External Advisory Board, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
• since 2012 Member, Scientific Council, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

Projects

• since 2021 Head, Subproject “Impact of the genome and the exposome on healthy and unhealthy obesity across the span“, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1454, German Research Council (DFG)
• since 2019 Participating Researcher, Clusters of Excellence (EXC) 2151 “ImmunoSensation2 – the immune sensory system“, DFG

Honours and Memberships

• 2020 Highly Cited Researcher Cross-Field, Clarivate Analytics, London, UK
• 2019 Highly Cited Researcher Cross-Field, Clarivate Analytics, London, UK
• since 2019 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• 2018 Highly Cited Researcher Cross-Field, Clarivate Analytics, London, UK
• 2015 Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands
• 2014 Highly Cited Researcher, Thomson Reuters, Toronto, Canada
• 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer`s Disease Research, Alzheimer`s Association, Chicago, USA
• 2012 Speech, Falling Walls Conference, Berlin, Germany
• 2003 VICI Grant, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), Netherlands
• 2001 Aspasia Grant, NWO, Netherlands
• 1998-2002 Fellow, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Netherlands