Principal Investigators

Andy Y. Shih, PhD
ECI Co-Director
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington
Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine
 
Erik N.T.P. Bakker, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Amsterdam University Medical Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering
In our lab we study brain clearance in rodent models, using two-photon imaging and 7T MRI. We are interested in the anatomy of the glymphatic system, its driving forces, and how it is affected by vascular pathology. This includes hypertension, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy.
Gabor C. Petzold, MD PhD
Professor of Vascular Neurology
German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE)
Helene Benveniste, MD PhD
Executive Committee Member
Professor of Anesthesiology
Yale School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology
The Benveniste laboratory studies biology of fluid flows in the central nervous system, mechanisms of cerebral homoeostasis, and glymphatic-lymphatic uncoupling as a mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases.
Jeffrey J. Iliff, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

University of Washington, VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Our lab focuses on defining the relationships between sleep disruption, glymphatic impairment, and long- term neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. This includes preclinical work to define the mechanisms underlying sleep-active glymphatic function and its impairment with age and brain injury, as well as postmortem and neuroimaging studies in clinical populations seeking to define the role of glymphatic impairment in human neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Matthias J.P. van Osch, PhD
European Network Coordinator
Executive Committee Member
Professor of Experimental Cerebrovascular Imaging
Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Radiology
The LUMC is dedicated to developing and applying new human MRI technology to improve our understanding of brain clearance and CAA. These techniques are based on high spatial resolution CSF mobility measurements obtained at 7 Tesla, as well as water transport measurements across brain barriers by arterial spin labeling MRI. Moreover, the LUMC has a longstanding history on performing clinical research on Dutch-type and sporadic CAA.
Roxana O. Carare, MD PhD
Roxana O. Carare, MD PhD
Professor of Clinical Neuroanatomy
University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Clinical Neurosciences
Steven M. Greenberg, MD PhD
Steven M. Greenberg, MD PhD
Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Director Hemorrhagic Stroke Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology
Dr. Greenberg’s research focuses on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of cerebral small vessel diseases with focus on cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). His work has served as the basis for the Boston Criteria used to diagnose CAA during life, identification of imaging biomarkers to detect disease progression, and treatment trials aimed at reducing its clinical impact. Dr. Greenberg’s research studies involving CAA patients has also made it possible to test hypotheses about the effect of small vessel disease on vascular physiology and functioning of the glymphatic system.
Susanne J. van Veluw, PhD
North American Network Coordinator
Executive Committee Member
Associate Professor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurology
The translational CAA research lab at MGH uses a combination of ex vivo MRI-guided neuropathology in human brain tissue, real-time optical imaging in mouse models, and in vivo MRI in patients with the goal to unravel disease mechanisms of CAA and CAA-related hemorrhage. With respect to glymphatic brain clearance studies, we are interested in the role of vasomotion as a driving force for perivascular solute transport.
Sylvie Lorthois, PhD HDR
Directrice de Recherche
Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse
 
Research in our lab has been mainly focused on the biomechanics of blood flow and transfers (oxygen, nutrients and waste) in the brain micro- circulation of human and rodents, and, more recently, on their interactions with cerebro-spinal fluid flow. We develop an interdisciplinary approach using tools and concepts from fluid mechanics and heterogeneous media physics (including theory, multiscale computational modelling, and microfluidic experiments) to unravel how fluid flow and transport processes in the CNS contribute to major cerebral pathologies, including Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy.
 
William E. Van Nostrand, PhD
Professor of Neuroscience
College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island
My laboratory investigates the molecular pathogenesis of cerebral small vessel diseases with an emphasis on cerebral amyloid angiopathy. To facilitate this, we generate and refine novel rodent models that better reflect human disease. We use these models to elucidate the molecular changes to the cerebral vascular/perivascular compartments that underlie disease.