Major research for neurodegenerative disease

As part of the EU Joint Programme - Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) research initiative, ten groups of scientists have been awarded funding to pursue frameworks and produce guidelines to help maximise the use of existing population studies for research into neurodegenerative disease.

The award scheme, led by the MRC, forms part of a series of JPND activities that are designed to boost the impact of research by aligning and building upon national programmes and initiatives.

“The plan is that each group will push forward the conceptualisation of a key challenge

MRC director Rob Buckle

According to the MRC, the funding will enable scientific opinion leaders of various nationalities to join forces and address the methodological barriers preventing the optimal use of longitudinal studies for research into the causes, treatment and prevention of neurodegenerative disorders.

MRC director of science programmes Rob Buckle said: “The plan is that each group will push forward the conceptualisation of a key challenge and derive valuable guidelines and/or best practice frameworks for the wider research community.

“It is anticipated that the outcomes, to be published next year, will aid the harmonisation of study methods across future studies and make it easier for researchers to compare and share emerging research data.”

The research groups will cover a range of neurodegenerative conditions, all of which can give rise to dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Motor Neurone Disease (or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) - which has been widely publicised recently via people undertaking the ’Ice Bucket Challenge’.

The research projects are as follows:

• HD-READy (High-Dimentional Research in Alzheimer’s disease) - Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Harmonization and innovation of cognitive, behavioural and functional assessment in neurodegenerative dementias - IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
• NETCALS (Network of Cohort Assessment in ALS) - University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
• 21st Century Eurodem - University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
• Multi-centre cohort-studies in Lewy-body dementia: Challenges in harmonizing different clinical and biomarker protocols - Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway
• Developing a methodological framework for trials in presymptomatic neurodegenerative disease - the Presymtomatic Neurodegeneration Initiative (PreNI) - University College London, London, UK
• Harmonization of biomarker assessment in longitudinal cohort studies in Parkinson’s disease - Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Tübingen, Germany
• Dementia Outcome Measures: charting new territory - University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
• Body fluid biobanking of longitudinal cohorts in neurodegenerative diseases - VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Realising the potential of cohort studies to determine the vascular contribution to neurodegeneration - University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK