"Our mission is to better understand how the brain ages to better diagnose and cure it"
About us
The Richetin Lab is a translational neuroscience laboratory working at the interface between clinical neuroscience, psychiatry, memory medicine and experimental neurobiology.
Our research aims to understand how the brain communicates with the rest of the body through circulating molecular signals, including proteins, extracellular vesicles, metabolites and other components of the brain secretome. We investigate how these signals can be detected in accessible biofluids such as blood and saliva, and how they may be used to better diagnose, monitor and understand neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Our work combines clinical cohorts, biofluid biobanking, extracellular vesicle biology, proteomics, advanced microscopy, live-cell imaging, cellular models and data-driven biomarker discovery. We are particularly interested in Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive decline, tauopathies, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric disorders and brain aging.
The laboratory is strongly integrated within the Centre Leenaards de la Mémoire, the Department of Clinical Neurosciences and the Department of Psychiatry at CHUV/UNIL. This unique position allows us to connect patient-centered clinical research with mechanistic experimental models and advanced technological platforms. Our long-term ambition is to develop accessible, biologically meaningful and clinically useful tools to monitor brain health across the lifespan.
Research axes
1. The brain secretome and biofluid biomarkers
A central concept of our laboratory is the brain secretome: the ensemble of molecular signals released by brain cells and detectable outside the central nervous system.
We study how brain-derived proteins, extracellular vesicles and other circulating signals can be detected in peripheral biofluids, particularly blood and saliva. These signals may provide information about neurodegeneration, synaptic dysfunction, glial activation, neuroinflammation, vascular alterations and brain aging.
Our objective is to transform these molecular signatures into clinically relevant biomarkers for early detection, patient stratification and longitudinal monitoring of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
This axis integrates clinical samples, proteomics, ultrasensitive immunoassays, extracellular vesicle profiling and computational approaches to identify biomarker signatures associated with disease progression and clinical phenotypes.
2. Brain-derived extracellular vesicles
Extracellular vesicles are nanoscale particles released by cells that carry proteins, lipids, RNA and other molecular cargo. Because they can preserve biological information from their cell of origin, they represent a promising source of biomarkers for brain disorders.
Our laboratory focuses on the isolation and characterization of brain-derived extracellular vesicles from blood and saliva. We are particularly interested in vesicles of neuronal, astrocytic and glial origin, and in their potential to reflect pathological processes occurring in the brain.
Our recent work on brain-derived extracellular vesicles in Alzheimer’s disease supports the idea that peripheral vesicles can carry disease-relevant information related to synaptic dysfunction, glial activation and neurodegeneration.
We are now extending this approach to cognitive decline, tauopathies, traumatic brain injury, psychiatric disorders and saliva-based monitoring.
3. Saliva as a non-invasive window into the brain
Saliva is one of the most innovative biofluids investigated in our laboratory. It is non-invasive, easy to collect, repeatable and particularly suitable for longitudinal monitoring, vulnerable populations and large-scale studies.
We investigate whether salivary proteins, extracellular vesicles and microbiome-related signatures can reflect brain aging, cognitive decline, neuroinflammation, synaptic dysfunction and glial activity.
This work is based on the hypothesis that saliva may contain brain-related molecular information, either through free proteins, vesicle-associated cargo, oral-brain communication pathways or systemic biological interactions.
Our long-term vision is to determine whether saliva could become a practical biofluid for monitoring brain health in real-world clinical settings, including memory clinics, psychiatry, sports-related brain injury and preventive medicine.
4. Astrocytes, tau and functional cellular assays
Beyond biomarker discovery, our laboratory investigates the mechanisms by which disease-associated molecular signals affect brain cells.
A major focus is the role of astrocytes in tauopathies, neurodegeneration and brain aging. We study how pathological tau species, extracellular vesicles and brain-derived secreted factors influence astrocyte function, with particular attention to mitochondrial activity, redox balance, inflammatory responses and cellular resilience.
Using human cellular models, including iPSC-derived astrocytes, we develop functional assays to test whether patient-derived molecular signatures have biological effects on brain-relevant cells.
This approach allows us to move beyond the simple detection of biomarkers and investigate their functional meaning.
5. Advanced microscopy and live-cell phenotyping
Advanced microscopy is a core technological pillar of the Richetin Lab.
We use live-cell imaging, confocal microscopy, automated acquisition and quantitative image analysis to monitor cellular dynamics in real time. These approaches allow us to study mitochondrial function, redox state, extracellular vesicle release, cellular stress responses and cell-to-cell communication.
By combining long-term live imaging with functional cellular assays, we aim to generate dynamic readouts of how disease-associated biofluid signals affect human brain cells.
This technological axis is essential for connecting molecular biomarkers with biological function and for developing new experimental platforms for translational neuroscience
6. Global neuroscience and equitable diagnosis
A major ambition of the laboratory is to contribute to more equitable access to brain health diagnostics.
Most biomarker studies in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders have been conducted in highly resourced healthcare systems and in populations that do not fully represent global genetic, environmental, vascular, infectious, nutritional and sociocultural diversity.
Through collaborations in Africa, particularly in Cameroon, we aim to develop and validate pragmatic diagnostic strategies adapted to local clinical realities. This includes the study of blood and saliva biomarkers in patients with cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease and vascular-related cognitive disorders, together with structured clinical, neuropsychological and functional assessments.
Our objective is not only to transfer existing diagnostic tools to new settings, but also to understand how biological, clinical and environmental heterogeneity shapes brain aging across populations.
By combining accessible biofluids, scalable technologies and locally grounded clinical expertise, we aim to support a more inclusive and globally relevant model of dementia and brain disorder diagnosis.
7. Clinical translation and personalized monitoring
Our research is directly connected to clinical practice through access to well-characterized patient cohorts, biofluid biobanks and clinical data from memory and psychiatric settings.
We combine molecular biomarker discovery with clinical phenotyping, neuropsychological assessment, longitudinal follow-up and experimental validation. This translational structure allows us to connect patient trajectories with biological mechanisms.
Our long-term goal is to develop a new generation of non-invasive tools to monitor brain health, detect early biological changes, stratify patients more precisely and support personalized interventions in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.
Ultimately, we aim to understand how the brain ages, how it communicates with the body, and how these signals can be used to improve diagnosis, monitoring and care.