Prof. Dr. Christoph Hock

 

Main Goals, Keywords

Early detection, therapy and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

Group Members

2 senior research fellows, 2 neuropsychologists, 1 biostatistician, MD and PhD students, 1 study administrator, 1 data bank assistant, 2 study nurses, 1 technician

Previous and Current Research

Our goal is to advance the development of a safe and effective immunotherapeutic treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. In this regard, we want to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying the immunotherapy of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as the individual factors predicting therapy outcome and tolerability. Methods for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease are being developed based on neuropsychology and neuroimaging, in particular magnetic resonance (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET).

Future Projects

To develop safe and efficacious passive immunotherapies for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions. To identify risk factors for the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. To assess the frequency of brain beta-amyloid deposition in the elderly. To improve early diagnostis and therapeutic monitoring by imaging, in particular MRI morphometry, 7 Tesla MRI, and molecular PET imaging. To develop innovative clinical study designs for the testing of disease modifying treatments and prevention of dementia.

Techniques and Equipment

Clinical research unit for inpatients and outpatients, including memory disorders unit, neuropsychological assessment facilities, medical care, wet lab research in collaboration with Roger M. Nitsch (Division of Psychiatry Research UZH), neuroimaging in collaboration with the MRI- (Spyros Kollias, Peter Bösiger) and PET- (Alfred Buck, Gustav von Schulthess) centers at the USZ/UZH/ETH, cohort studies in collaboration with clinical trial center USZ/UZH (Gregor Zünd).

Selected Publications

• Hänggi J, Streffer J, Jäncke L, Hock C. Volumes of lateral temporal and parietal structures distinguish between healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2011;26(4):719-34.
  
• Hänggi, J., Buchmann, A., Mondadori, C.R., Henke, K., Jäncke, L., Hock, C. Sexual dimorphism in the parietal substrate associated with visuospatial cognition independent of general intelligence. J Cogn Neurosci. Jan;22(1):139-55 (2010).
• Serrano-Pozo, A., William, C.M., Ferrer, I., Uro-Coste, E., Delisle, M.B., Maurage, C.A., Hock, C., Nitsch, R.M., Masliah, E., Growdon, J.H., Frosch, M.P., Hyman, B.T. Beneficial effect of human anti-amyloid-beta active immunization on neurite morphology and tau pathology. Brain. May;133(Pt 5):1312-27 (2010). Epub 2010 Mar 31.

Selected Lectures, Seminars, Colloquia

• Molecular pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric diseases
• Differential diagnosis of dementias

Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation Spezialprogramm Universitäre Medizin (“SPUM”): „The Conversion from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease“; Swiss National Science Foundation, National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR): „Neural Plasticity and Repair" (Teilprojekt „Abnormal Proteins and Neurodegenerative Diseases), EU, various foundations.

URL

http://www.dpr.uzh.ch