Four international consortia have been proposed for funding under a JPND Transnational call between 21 countries
On December 9th, 2011, four new international research projects were recommended for funding to address a key issue in neurodegenerative disease research: the optimisation of biomarkers and the harmonisation of their use.
Under a JPND transnational call for proposals between 21 countries entitled Neurodegenerative Diseases – a call for European research projects for the optimisation of biomarkers and harmonisation of their use between clinical centres,four project proposals have been proposed for funding by the Peer Review Panel based on scientific excellence and by the Call Steering Committee based on budget availability.
For further information on the projects proposed for funding, clickhere or on the link below.
Prevention, independent living, care and cure: are the main areas that the pilot European Innovation Partnership sees as being crucial to extending healthy and active life in Europe.
The Steering Group of the first initiative of the European CommissionsInnovation Union Flagship have agreed on a series of immediate actions to improve active and healthy aging. Philippe Amouyel, Chair of the JPND is a member of the Steering Group and has lead aworkshop on research mapping. Karine Baudin (INSERM Transfert) is a member of the Sherpa Group.
The target is that by 2020, the number of healthy life years in the EU will have increased on average by two years. To reach this target, the partnership wishes to enhance early diagnosis methods; remote monitoring; independent living solutions enabled by information technology; the construction of age-friendly environments; as well as health literacy and personalised health management.
The partnerships Steering Group is made up of representatives of national governments, hospitals, companies and civil organisations. The European Commission will call for active commitment from Member States, regions and other stakeholders to further expand the range of participants and implement the prioritized actions.
Link toEuropean Commission andFrench Ministry Press Releases on the Innovation Partnership’s action areas.
Frequently asked questions about European Innovation PartnershipsLink to website of European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing
Professor Philippe Amouyel will present JPND at the first “European Day of the Brain – Ageing, Stroke and Alzheimers Disease – Finding Innovative Solutions on November 18th in Warsaw, Poland.
The meeting is organised by the European Brain Council, together with the Polish Ministry for Health and DG SANCO, to co-incide with the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (July-December 2011).
The event will be attended and addressed by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, together with representatives of the European Commission and Polish Government.
More details of the meeting are available at the link below.
Professor Amouyel also presented JPND at the Annual Joint Programming event entitled "Public-to-Public Partnerships", in Brussels on Nov 9-10th, 2011.
More details from this meeting can be found at the link below:
http://www.era-learn.eu/jpevent2011
Follow us @JPNDeurope for tweets on the JPND, neurodegenerative disease research, national initiatives, news from official EU bodies and other European research organisations.
Interested parties can stay up-to-date@JPNDeurope on relevant activties, events and news relating to JPND and neurodegenerative disease research.
Link to JPND Twitter Page
JPND also has a News Feed RSS and email alert to keep interested parties up-to-date on JPND-specific activities. To sign-up for the e-alert, click on the link below:
Link to News feed page
Irish Minister for Research and Innovation welcomes the JPND Mangement Board
The Irish Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD, extended a warm welcome to the JPND Management Board at its 9th meeting which took place in Dublin Castle on 29 September.
Excerpts from the text of the the Minister’s speech are available by clicking on the link below:
Minister’s speech excerpts
Photographs from the event are available at the link below:
Event photos
Eight new international research projects have been funded by the JPND-endorsed COEN initiative
The Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration Research (CoEN) -initiative, an international funding partnership, has announced investment in eight exciting new international research projects which will address key issues in neurodegenerative disease research.
The CoEN initiative, launched in 2010, funds highly innovative research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementias and Parkinsons disease. Under a call for proposals for collaborative research that will serve to underpin future studies, 3.7m has been awarded to eight new projects spanning the development of new disease models, the identification of biomarkers and the harmonisation of methodologies for clinical studies. These projects bring together a wealth of resources and expertise from a number of large research institutes in different countries to tackle scientific questions that are key to the advancement within the field.
For further information on the funded projects clickhere or visit:http://coen.org/home.html
JPND would like views on the research priorities identified to date
Following the successful final workshop on its Strategic Reseach Agenda, JPND has launched an online consultation on the research priorities identified to date.
The consultation is aweb-based survey based on the outcomes from the June meeting and is open for views until Sunday 18th September, 2011. JPND regrets that responses will not be accepted after this date.
The exercise is crucial to ensure that good representation and responses are obtained from the wide spectrum of stakeholders that JPND wishes to engage with.
JPND is asking individuals and organisations with an interest in neurodegenerative diseases to respond. Most respondees will find that the survey takes around 30 minutes to complete.
Please note that the consultation is in English and is structured so that people need only respond to the issues which interest them most.
The link to provide access is:http://bit.ly/jpnd2
JPND is co-leading with the Spanish Ministry of Research a Working Group on Research Mapping in Aging which met for the first time in Brussels last week.
The European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP AHA) is the pilot case for the concept of European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), as announced in theEurope 2020 Strategy.
Endorsed by both the European Parliament and Council, the EIP AHA is requiring close cooperation across public health, research and innovation, ICT as well as industrial policy and competitiveness. A High Level Steering Group is driving the partnership, co-chaired by Vice President Kroes (Digital Agenda) and Commissioner Dalli (Health and Consumers).
The objectives are to pursue a Triple Win for Europe – healthy elderly, healthy public finances, healthy business. The target is that by 2020, the number of healthy life years in the EU will have increased on average by 2 years.
The EIP AHA is currently identifying Priority Action Areas. As part of this process, JPND is co-leading with the Spanish Ministry of Research a Working Group on Research Mapping in Aging which met for the first time in Brussels last week. Philippe Amouyel, Chair of JPND, is a member of the High Level Steering Group and is leading the workshop. Karine Baudin (INSERM_Transfert) is a member of the Sherpa Group. Alex Pemberton of the Medical Research Council, UK presented yesterday on the provisional results of the JPND mapping exercise.
The EIP AHA High level Steering Group is meeting again on September 16th and October 4th to draw up the Strategic Implementation Plan with the aim for this plan to be presented at the December EU Competitiveness Council meeting. The Sherpa group will meet on July 7th to prepare for the Steering Group meeting.
“Optimisation of appropriate biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, and harmonisation of their use across Europe”
Speaking at the 8th Management Board meeting of the JPND initiative, Professor Philippe Amouyel, INSERM, and Chair of the JPND, launched The first major activity under the JPND initiative – a joint transnational call to support the optimisation of appropriate biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, and harmonisation of their use across Europe.
A full press release about the launch is available at the link below.
Full details on the call for proposals, including scope of the call, evaluation process, eligible costs and participating funding organisations are available on the JPND website in the ‘Initiatives’ section, or by clickinghere.
Press Release
First Joint Programming funding initiative on use of biomarkers launched on May 13th, 2011.
Researchers working in the field of neurodegeneration research have a new opportunity to bring an unprecedented level of European coordination in their efforts to tackle major societal threats such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease.
Speaking today in Istanbul, Turkey at the 8th Management Board meeting of the Joint Programming in Neurodegenerative Disease (JPND) initiative, Professor Philippe Amouyel, INSERM, and Chair of the JPND, launched The first major activity under the JPND initiative – a joint transnational call to support the optimisation of appropriate biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases, and harmonisation of their use across Europe.
Prof. Amouyel added This collaboration will see over 14 million euro made available to researchers from 20 countries, where national agencies are contributing funding towards high quality research to address barriers to progress not readily funded through standard national research grants.
This will be managed as one co-ordinated funding stream, with funding obtained from participating national agencies staying within borders for researchers in their respective countries, thus increasing coordination and reducing fragmentation he said.
According to Prof. Thomas Gasser, University of Tübingen and Chair of the JPND Scientific Advisory Board, The availability of sensitive and specific biomarkers for the diagnosis and the monitoring of progression of neurodegenerative disorders, which are sufficiently robust to be used in large clinical trials is one of the greatest unmet needs in this field. Approaches to biomarker harmonisation for the following neurodegenerative diseases are included in the call: Alzheimers disease and other dementias Parkinsons disease and PD related disorders Prion disease Motor neurone diseases Huntingtons disease Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
More information on the grant call practicalities is available athttps://www.neurodegenerationresearch.eu
