Neurological illnesses are one of the main causes of disability and mortality in developed societies. Due to their evolutionary clinical profile, they can affect both the young (muscular dystrophies, spinal atrophies, mental retardation caused by genetic reasons or epilepsies), and the intermediate age group (multiple sclerosis, CNS tumours, psychiatric illness and symptoms of encephalopathies) and the neurological illnesses associated with the ageing process and which start to appear after the age of 65 (Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other degenerative disorders that affect gait and movement, psychosis, bipolar disorder and cerebrovascular disease).
The epidemiological weight of these illnesses is growing, and is the main cause of disability in developed societies, so the study and treatment of these diseases is being boosted in all biomedical research programmes at all levels. Their economic weight has been valued at over 400,000 million euros, according to the estimates of the 7th European Union Framework Programme.
The research work carried out by the team in the Neurosciences Area aims to find solutions to the aforementioned neurological problems, coordinating their efforts from a translational perspective, incorporating the advances reached in the field of basic clinical neuroscience for patient care, and transferring those problems or questions that arise from pathological neurological processes to the laboratory.
The research is approached from different perspectives: basic molecular research, epidemiological research, clinical research, research into new therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, and research into clinical management.