With her expertise in neuropathology, biobanking, and high-end microscopy analysis of human brain tissue, Wilma Van de Berg aims to improve early diagnosis and develop disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson’s disease. In her inaugural lecture on December 18, 2025, Professor Wilma Van de Berg will bring together different perspectives on disease progression as the newly appointed Professor Cellular Neurodegeneration, Parkinson’s disease at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Looking through different lenses

When you look through someone else’s eyes, you sometimes see a completely different world. You are not alone - together with those close to you, you build your network. The same applies to brain cells. Dopaminergic brain cells form a large and complex network that is essential for functions such as movement, motivation, and reward. This network is vulnerable because of its extensive branching and high energy demands.

By the time Parkinson’s disease is diagnosed, approximately 50% of these dopaminergic neurons have already died. This was one of the key messages highlighted by Professor of Cellular Neurodegeneration Wilma Van de Berg in her inaugural lecture.

Other brain cells involved in functions such as smell, sleep, emotion, attention, and autonomic processes are also disrupted early in the disease. Parkinson’s disease spreads through the interconnected brain network, yet there is still no treatment that can prevent, slow down, or cure the disease. With the help of a biological barcode, it may become possible to detect Parkinson’s earlier and predict its progression. Such a barcode could also pave the way for new, personalized treatments.

We are on the verge of a time when we not only understand the disease better, but can also truly make a difference in people’s lives.
Wilma Van de Berg
Professor Cellular Neurodegeneration

About Wilma Van de Berg
Wilma Van de Berg is a senior translational and cellular neuroscientist and neuroanatomist at the Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Amsterdam UMC. She is head of the Clinical Neuroanatomy and Biobanking (CNAB) and founder and director of the Normal Aging Brain Collection Amsterdam (NABCA), which collects advanced postmortem MRI and high-quality brain tissue of non-demented elderly for stimulating translational research in neurosciences since 2014. Her research focuses on the cellular and anatomical mechanisms underlying protein aggregation and lysosomal dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, with particular expertise in human neuroanatomy, neuropathology, quantitative MRI-to-pathology, and advanced 3D microscopy.

Van de Berg (co-)leads several large national and international initiatives, including the longitudinal cohort study Profiling Parkinson’s (ProPARK) and EU consortia such as 4DPD-OMICS, LysMitoPAD, and NEUROCOV. Her work aims to identify biological subtypes and novel biomarkers to improve early diagnosis and prediction of disease progression. She has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles. And in addition, Van de Berg is also chair of the Dutch Parkinson Scientists Association, where Dutch researchers are working together towards a better understanding, earlier recognition, and ultimately slowing down or preventing Parkinson's disease. Van de Berg also acts as a program leader of the Amsterdam Neuroscience research program on neurodegeneration and a member of the steering committee of the Amsterdam UMC Parkinson and Movement Disorders Center.

The inaugural lecture, titled ‘Cellular Neurodegeneration, Parkinson’s disease’, by Wilma Van de Berg, will take place today, December 18, 2025, at 15:45 in the Aula of VU Amsterdam. The lecture can be attended in person or followed online via a livestream.