Category Archives: JPND News

Five new innovative pathfinder projects are being funded under the JPND-aligned CoEN initiative

The Centres of Excellence in neurodegenerative disease (CoEN) initiative, launched in 2010, funds collaborative research in the field of neurodegenerative disease, spanning disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Motor Neurone Disease.

Under the second CoEN funding call, €3.0m has been awarded for5 “Pathfinder” projects, constituting innovative and creative proof-of-principle studies which, if successful, will provide a step change in neurodegeneration research.

The awarded projects take a ‘high risk, high pay-off’ approach to identify and validate new potential drugs and develop innovative therapeutic approaches for Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias. These projects bring together a wealth of resources and expertise from a number of research centres in different countries to tackle scientific questions that are vital to advancement within the field.

To ensure momentum, successful “pathfinders” will have the potential, in subsequent phases of the initiative, to win substantial follow-on funding that will help take the proof of principle studies to the next stage where they can have wider scientific and clinical impact.  

The funded projects are:

1. Targeting glucocerebrosidase for disease-modifying treatments in Parkinson’s disease
Anthony H.V. Schapira (UK), David Park (Canada), Donato Di Monte (Germany) and Fabio Blandini (Italy)

2. WNT signaling: biomarker and target evaluation in Alzheimer’s disease
Antonio Cuadrado (Spain), James Woodgett (Canada) and Simon Lovestone (UK)

3. Mechanisms of amyloid-beta clearance in models of vascular cognitive impairment and mixed dementia
Gabor Petzold (Germany) and Danica Stanimirovic (Canada)

4. In vivo neuronal cell reprogramming for a new regenerative approach in Parkinson’s disease
Vania Broccoli (Italy), Alexander Dityatev (Germany) and Josè Luis Lanciego (Spain)

5. microRNA as novel therapeutic targets and disease biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontotemporal dementia and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (NEURO-MIR)
Jochen Prehn (Ireland), Andre Fischer (Germany), Pierre Lau (Flanders), Jose Lucas (Spain)

CoEN is an international initiative involving research funders in the UK (Medical Research Council), Canada (Canadian Institutes of Health Research), Germany (DZNE), Belgium (Flanders, VIB), Ireland (Science Foundation Ireland and Health Research Board), Italy (Ministry of Health), Slovakia (Slovak Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport), and Spain (ISCIII). The aim of the initiative is to encourage collaborative research between recognised national centres of excellence in neurodegeneration research. COEN is aligned with JPND, although it operates as an independent entity.

For further information please visit the links below:  

Leading Portuguese experts and policy makers met in Lisbon on July 11th to discuss future research directions and collaborations for neurodegeneration research

Portuguese representatives from the JPND Management Board recently organised a meeting on July 11th 2013 in Lisbon, to discuss implementation of the JPND Strategic Research Agenda.

The meeting was organised by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), to discuss future research directions and collaborations among relevant national stakeholders including:

• Ministry of Health and Ministry of Science, PT
• Groups responsible for planning national strategies related to neurodegenerative diseases (ND)
• Groups involved in ND-related projects such as "Mapping Dementia in Portugal"
• Groups supporting social activities dedicated to Alzheimer’s Disease 
• Stakeholder organizations representing patients, industry, research centers & universities 
• Other relevant pan-European research initiatives (SHARE-ERIC, EIP-AHA and AAL)

A scientific session in the afternoon involved Portuguese researchers from successfully-funded JPND consortia as well as representatives from relevant national research networks.

JPND was representated at the meeting by Management Board member Maria dos Anjos Macedo.

The draft programme for the meeting (in English and Portuguese) is available for download at the link below:

Presentations delivered at the event will be available shortly on the FCT website link below: 

Consultation held on 20-21 June 2013 at Oxford University, UK in collaboration with the Global Coalition on Aging.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Oxford University and the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) concluded on Friday, 21 June 2013 aone-day expert consultation on "Unlocking Global Collaboration to Accelerate Innovation for Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia”.

Aimed at providing input to the OECD action agenda for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, the consultation brought together the highest level of global experts across health, economics, public policy, business, biotechnology and beyond.

JPND was represented on the conference programme by Prof. Martin Rossor, Vice-Chair of the JPND Scientific Advisory Board whopresented in the session entitled “From Bench to Bedside: meeting the needs of patients, academia , and industry”.

The consultation’s timing is aligned with UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent recognition that dementia is fast becoming the biggest pressure on care systems around the world. “That’s why we’re using the G8 to bring together health ministers, clinical researchers and healthcare companies. “he said “If the brightest minds are working together on this then we’ve got a greater chance of improving treatments and finding scientific breakthroughs. I’ve said before that we need an all-out fight-back against dementia that cuts across society. Now we need to cut across borders and spearhead an international approach that could really make a difference.”

“The global scale of the pending healthcare-economic crisis mandates a bold forward looking action plan to harmonize a multi-nation attack on the problem," noted Zaven Khachaturian, recognized at the meeting as the ‘Chief Architect’ of Alzheimer & Brain Aging research in the United States, now the President of the Campaign to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease by 2020. He indicated the urgent need for a "multinational strategic goal for reducing the prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other chronic brain disorders by 50 percent within a decade" – thus urging the OECD to "identify the framework conditions to accelerate multi-national collaborative R&D."

George Vradenburg, Chairman of USAgainstAlzheimer’s and convener of the Global CEO Initiative on Alzheimer’s, called for new attention, resources, commitment and collaboration to defeat Alzheimer’s disease. In his keynote speech, coined "The Oxford Accord," he called for G8 leadership equivalent to the G8 Summit that created the HIV/AIDS Global Fund.

Consultation experts presented their views for proactive public policy and an OECD role in supporting actions to: promote broad-based partnerships; identify incentives, frameworks and infrastructures for enhanced international data sharing; leverage big data as strategies to advance our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, improve care, promote global exchange of good practice and move toward cure and even prevention.

Clickhere or at the link below for the conference programme and presentations.  The JPND presentation is availablehere or at the second link below:

The interim report of the JUMPAHEAD FP7 action to support JPND has been highlighted on the CORDIS Technology Workplace website.

The JUMPAHEAD project is a coordination action that supports the implementation of JPND to combat neurodegenerative diseases.  It is a three year project funded by an FP7 2 million euro grant GA no. 260774.

JUMPAHEAD has allowed JPND to create a unique European collaborative research organization, with the necessary JPND activities formally organized into work packages. This organization has since established a comprehensive research strategy, a realistically-phased implementation plan, and has been widely disseminated to other Joint Programing Initiatives, offering a framework and valuable experience to develop their efforts more rapidly and efficiently. 

Click on the links below to access the interim report summary in a number of languages:

The interim report was also highlighted in anarticle in the Research EU magazine produced by CORDIS. 

For more information on JUMPAHEAD, clickhere or on the link below:

The final report from the Joint Programming Conference 2013, Dublin, is now available

The event entitled “Agenda for the Future & Achievements to Date” took place in Dublin on the 28th February-1st March 2013, under the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with support from the European Commission.

The report is available for downloadhere, or at the link below:

JPND was heavily represented on the conference programme, with Chair Philippe Amouyel speaking at the first plenary session. The JPND presentations are availablehere or at the second link below.

Delta Plan to follow closely the JPND strategic research agenda and will strengthen the international position of the Netherlands for both research and industry

The Netherlands Dementia Delta Plan was launched today by the Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport Edith Schippers and Secretary of State Martin van Rijn (VWS).

The Deltaplan will invest 32.5 million euros over the next four years for scientific research into dementia. The plan aims to improve the care for the patients of today and tomorrow, and should fuel the quest for solutions to prevent or postpone the disease.

The Dementia Delta Plan is built on three pillars:

1. the development of an e-health portal
2. the establishment of a national dementia registry
3. the investment and implementation of new programmes for scientific research

The Delta Plan shapes the policy of the Netherlands Government to keep the care for the elderly sustainable ánd affordable. The Delta Plan will also follow closely the JPND strategic research agenda and will strengthen the international position of Netherlands for both research and industry.

The Delta Plan will be implemented by a public/private partnership including;

• Public: Government, VUmc Alzheimer Center, Alzheimer Netherlands and ZonMw
• Private: Achmea, CZ, Nefarma, NFU, Nutricia, Philips, PGGM Rabobank, VitaValley, and VNO-NCW

"Dementia is not a problem of the government alone, but involves everyone" said Minister Schippers. ‘The strength of this plan is that there are so many parties to get involved and connect international research. The joint efforts of government, science and industry makes the Delta Plan so special’.

State Secretary Van Rijn: "As long as it is not possible to cure dementia, we must make the disease as bearable as possible for the patient, family and caregiver. Addition to basic research into the causes and symptoms, we can improve the care’.

The ministers sent the Delta Plan for Dementia to the House of Representatives on April 4th, 2013.

The press release and full plan (both in Dutch) are available at the links below.

(information supplied by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport / JPND Management Board members from The Netherlands)