NervOUS research group
NervOUS-Child Neurology aims to stimulate research in child neurology and social pediatrics. The group has been researching genetic causes of developmental disabilities and neuromuscular diseases for many years. Offers for treatment of rare genetic conditions have inspired new PhD projects in the field of precision medicine, and we have several ongoing projects in rare neurotransmitter diseases. Autism and epilepsy are large and important disease groups within child neurology, and both a doctoral project on status epilepticus in children and a mapping study are planned that aims to look at the causes of the increased incidence of autism. In the past year, a large collaborative project has been started between the specialist health service and districts in Oslo that will look at the effect of following up morbid obesity in children. The research group has a clinical fellow who bases his doctoral work on results from this work.
Another patient group that is currently being studied is patients with juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL). Both the natural course of the disease, mental health and biomarkers are being examined in various studies. A collaborative project between Norway, Sweden and Denmark is looking more closely at the differences and similarities between the countries, and the implications of the disease for the entire family.
The research group is also involved in several projects that deal with patients with CFS/ME. One of the projects deals with immunological conditions, another will look at the significance of standardizing interaction for young people and adults with long-term fatigue of unknown cause and CFS/ME. We are also taking part in a study of patients who have undergone COVID-19 infection.