LNCO awarded the Catalyst fund to treat hallucinations in Parkinson
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The Laboratory of Cognitive Neurosciences from Professor Olaf Blanke won one of the initial “catalyst” grants from the Bertarelli Foundation. The project proposal aims at treating hallucinations in Parkinsonian patients, using a non-invasive and non-pharmacological approach based on neurofeedback.
The neurological processes behind the presence hallucination, an hallucination frequently present in parkinsonian patients, are one of the main research interests of Professor Olaf Blanke. In 2014, the LNCO presented a mechanism to trigger this hallucination through a robotic setup. Since then, several studies try to better understand the processes leading to the appearance of this presence.
The 300,000 francs grant from the catalyst funding, will finance the collective effort of Blanke, Dimitri Van De Ville and Krack’s labs, in developing a non-invasive and non-pharmacological therapy based on neurofeedback, that will help parkinsonian patients tackle their hallucinations. Proving to be a useful therapy will open the door to use the same procedure in neurological conditions that share similar traits.
Congratulations and good luck!