Onderzoek 

Dr. Verburgh is onderzoeker aan het Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies (CLEA) aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Hij is tevens lid van de Evolution, Complexity and Cognition (ECCO) groep aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Zijn onderzoeksinteresses zijn veroudering, voeding, metabolisme en evolutionaire geneeskunde. 

Meer specifiek onderzoekt hij hoe diëten, voedingsmiddelen, voedingsstoffen, medicijnen en andere interventies de (gezonde) levensduur kunnen verlengen en het risico kunnen verminderen op verouderingsgerelateerde ziektes zoals hart-en vaatziekten, type 2 diabetes, neurodegeneratieve ziektes (ziekte van Alzheimer, ziekte van Parkinson, ziekte van Huntington, vasculaire dementie, ...), sarcopenie (het wegkwijnen van de spiermassa), maculaire degeneratie, osteoporose, etc. 

Verburgh creëerde tevens een nieuw wetenschappelijk vakgebied: de nutrigerontologie.

Daarnaast heeft dr. Verburgh een bijzondere interesse in evolutie, complexiteit in de natuur, neurowetenschap, creativiteit en artificiële intelligentie, en heeft hij twee boeken over deze onderwerpen geschreven. 

Wat voor therapeutische interventies kunnen de (gezonde) levensduur verlengen en waarom? (Bron: Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice, Nature, 2009)

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Welke mechanismen reguleren het verouderingsproces? (Bron: Brain IRS2 signaling coordinates life span and nutrient homeostasis, Science, 2007)

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Welke voeding kan het risico verminderen op verouderingsziektes? (Bron: Red meat consumption and mortality: results from 2 prospective cohort studies, Archives of internal medicine, 2012)

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In tegenstelling tot wat talloze gezondheidsboeken, magazines en websites beweren, remmen de meeste antioxidanten veroudering niet af. En de weinige 'antioxidanten' die veroudering (een beetje) kunnen vertragen, doen dat niet via hun antioxidatieve werking (Bron: Mortality in Randomized Trials of Antioxidant Supplements for Primary and Secondary Prevention, Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007).

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Voedingsmiddelen zoals chocolade bevatten stoffen die het risico op een hartaanval of Alzheimer kunnen verminderen, en dit via allerlei mechanismen (Bron: Chocolate consumption and cardiometabolic disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis, British Medical Journal, 2011. Image: WikiCommons).

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Andere of vorige projecten

PROJECT 
Causes of aging (biogerontology), with an accent on brain aging (dementia, mild cognitive impairment, forgetfulness, ...).

Neural tissue is the most vulnerable of all tissues to the aging process. There are several reasons for this. Neural cells are ten times more metabolically active compared to other cells. In the brain there are also many exitotoxic amino acids like glutamate that can damage or destroy neurons. Several neurotransmitters like dopamine are also autooxidizable, meaning that they can react with oxygen and create superoxide (a potent free radical). The brain also contains relatively large amounts of iron, that can create dangerously reactive hydrogen peroxide via the Fenton reaction. Neuronal membranes are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (like DHA) that can easily undergo lipid peroxidation. The brain contains very few amounts of catalase, an important antioxidant enzyme that converses hydrogenperoxide into water. 

The vulnerability of neural tissue to the aging process explains why many diseases of aging involve neural tissue (like Alzheimers disease, Parkinson, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the lipofuscinoses, certain lysosomal storage diseases) and makes neural tissue, in vivo and in vitro, an ideal research object to unravel the many different and complex pathways involved in the aging process. 

Sources 

Halliwell, B., (20078) Oxidative stress and neurodegeneration: where are we now? Journal of neurochemistry, 97, 1634-1658 
Kenyon, C. (2010). The Genetics of ageing. Nature 464, 504-512 
Lansbury, P. et al (2006). A century-old debate on protein aggregation and neurodegeneration enters the clinic. Nature 443, 774-779




PROJECT 
tDCS (transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) of the brain for studying neural networks involved in morality and religion with the use of EEG and LORETTA transformation.

We propose a hypothetical unifying model of religion based on evolutionary socio-biological research and neuroimaging studies. In this model, self-consciousness is emphasized as an important generator of spirituality and morality. Changes in self-consciousness can bring about spiritual experiences (out-of-body experiences, autoscopy, dissociation, awareness of a presence), and self-other discrimination is involved in theory of mind (a moral faculty) and hyperactive agency detection (enabling belief in intentional entities). Additionally, the model emphasises cognition in religiosity (confirmation bias, minimally counterintuitive worlds, temporal lobe epilepsy and teleological thinking). Neuroimaging studies of religious and spiritual experiences show neural networks involved in self-consciousness, theory of mind, moral feelings and socio-cognitive processes.

Sources

Haidt, J. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science, 316, 998-1002.
Harris, S. et al (2009). The neural correlates of religious and nonreligious belief. PLoS.One., 4, 
Arzy, S. et al (2006). Induction of an illusory shadow person. Nature, 443, 287.
Kapogiannis, D., et al (2009). Cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief. Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A, 106, 4876-4881.
Gallese, V. (2007). Before and below 'theory of mind': embodied simulation and the neural correlates of social cognition. Philos.Trans.R.Soc.Lond B Biol.Sci., 362, 659-669.
Newberg, A., et al (2001). The measurement of regional cerebral blood flow during the complex cognitive task of meditation: a preliminary SPECT study. Psychiatry Res., 106, 113-122.