BRAINMODEL: Clinical characterization and understanding of excitation/inhibition ratio homeostasis in children with genetic syndromes

The N = You clinic in Emma Children`s Hospital at Amsterdam UMC (location AMC) is joining forces with the department of Human Genetics at Radboud UMC Nijmegen for an exciting new collaboration. Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) are complex and the etiology of these disorders is barely understood. Monogenetic NDDs (MDD) are a subclass of the NDD, caused by rare gene mutations in 1 out of the >1000 NDD genes known today. Pathophysiology of mDDs is multifactorial and includes genetic defects and the dysregulation of molecular/synaptic, metabolic and immune processes. This will in turn affects the maturation of currents and synaptic plasticity, required for proper excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance homeostasis, that will subserve information processing and brain functioning.

The BRAINMODEL project is part of a national, multicenter consortium which aims to develop treatment methods for mNDD, In this study we aim for further characterization of the E/I balance at EEG level and study its relationship with metabolic, immune, clinical profiles, behavior, and cognition. This study and data collection will pave the way to further clinical trials wherein precision medicine is tested.

For this internship we are looking for enthusiastic Dutch speaking RM students who would like to help collect EEG data but also analyze resting state HD EEG recordings of children with mNDDs. The internship varies from 7 to 9 months. The highly motivated student has a great affinity with EEG preprocessing and signal analyses and is interested in working under various software environments (MATLAB/Python).

Enthusiastic students are invited to send a reaction (including CV and grade list to one of the daily supervisors.