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The COEN initiative has released its third call for proposals aiming to further catalyse collaborative research to drive a step change in neurodegeneration research.

The Network of Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration (COEN) initiative aims to build collaborative research activity in neurodegeneration research across borders, focusing on critical mass and excellence. COEN is aligned with JPND, although it operates as an independent entity.

The third COEN call for research proposals was recently launched by six of the eight COEN members and will provide funds for ‘Pathfinder’ grants for innovative research to underpin new approaches to therapeutic intervention.

As in previous COEN calls, applications will connect centres with a critical mass of resources and expertise to drive a step change in neurodegeneration research. The six agencies are contributing £4.0m to fund awards made under the call involving their national Centres of Excellence.

The remit of the call is broad in scope: projects may include studies to illuminate our understanding of neurodegenerative mechanisms, or create technological advances to support novel diagnostic or therapeutic approaches.

The call will be administered as for the previous COEN pathfinder call, with partners funding research in their own country. The list of awards made under the first two COEN calls is located here.

More information can be found at the COEN website at the link below.  Closing date for submissions is 4pm on the 5th of October 2015 (BST; GMT+1)

Link:      http://www.coen.org/call-for-proposals-2015.html

JPND members are helping to move forward G7 activities in dementia research.

Making better use of data and sharing it among the research community may accelerate neurodegenerative disease research, as it offers the promise of larger and wider datasets that enable new insights from both well-established and novel sources and types of data. Furthermore, moving beyond established medical data into big data offers the potential to tap into routinely collected data from both within and outside health systems.

In December 2013, the G8 Global Dementia Summit in London identified the better use of available data, resource sharing and researcher collaboration as key priorities.  With the ambition to find a cure or disease-modifying therapy by 2025, the G8 health ministers mandated the OECD to report on how big data can be used and shared more efficiently for dementia research.

The results of the OECD review on big data were recently published and presented to the G7 health ministers at the first WHO Ministerial Conference on Global Action Against Dementia in Geneva in March 2015. This case-study review provides an evaluation of existing data sharing practices in research on age-related neurodegenerative diseases.  Four exemplar data sharing initiatives (ADNI, AddNeuroMed, UK Biobank and the Swedish Brain Power studies) were examined to better understand current data sharing practices in dementia research and to recommend the next steps required to move forward.

The OECD report was published under the advice of an International Advisory Group chaired by JPND Executive Board member Robin Buckle, with Philippe Amouyel (JPND Management Board Chair), Yves Joanette (JPND MB member, Canada) and Martin Rossor (Vice-Chair JPND SAB) also participating.

This follows the publication in February 2015 of an OECD compendium of current thinking in this area, bringing together a number of position papers on the use of big data in dementia research. These papers emanated from a workshop at the G7 legacy workshop in Ontario in 2014.

Finally, a wider description of this activity and the emerging big data and open science activities is described within the annual reports of both the World Dementia Council and the G7 Global Action against Dementia (GAAD), both published to coincide with the Geneva WHO Ministerial Conference.

 

Some of Europe’s brightest young leaders in research into dementia gathered in London on 27th February 2015 as part of a series of workshops to discuss innovative ideas to address the disease.

More than 50 young experts in fields such as neurology, psychiatry, cellular biology and sociology gathered for a series of discussions and workshops looking at how to help people with dementia live independently for longer and what needs to be done to find a cure. The experts were from 19 countries including the UK, The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and Belgium. Click here for a list of the Young Leaders who attended the workshop.

The workshop was hosted at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by the UK Government’s Science and Innovation Network in partnership with the World Dementia Council and the Global Action Against Dementia programme, which were established after the UK Government hosted the 2013 G8 Summit on Dementia.

The young leaders were joined by members of the World Dementia Council, which was set up to provide global leadership on tackling the key dementia challenges. The event was also supported by the EU Joint Programming Initiative on Neurodegenerative Diseases (JPND) and Alzheimer Europe.

Flickr slideshow below courtesy of UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, under Creative Commons licence.

This was the fourth in a series of workshops for young leaders organised by the Science and Innovation Network to support global efforts to achieve the 2013 G8 Summit Declaration commitments.  Previous Young Leaders workshops have taken place in the USA, Canada and Japan with the aim to create a global network of future young leaders which will continue to address the challenges presented by dementia.

The recommendations and outcomes of these workshops will be presented at the World Health Organisation’s First Ministerial conference on Dementia on March 16-17 in Geneva, Switzerland.  At the same time, the global Young Leaders Network will sign up to supporting future activities of the Global Action Against Dementia and the World Dementia Council.

 

Robin Grimes, FCO Chief Scientific Adviser said:
“International science and innovation collaboration is critical to deliver the commitment made at G8 to identify a cure or a disease-modifying therapy for dementia by 2025. This and other young leaders events will make a major contribution by bringing together the best young minds across a range of scientific backgrounds to encourage new ideas and foster new opportunities for innovation.”

 

Philippe Amouyel of the EU Joint Programme on Neurodegnerative Diseases said:
“The scale of the dementia challenge demands a global response, beyond G7 countries. This latest young leader workshop is importing new perspectives and innovative ideas from all over Europe and beyond to tackle the dementia challenge. By harnessing the collective brains of these ambassadors of research we ensure the future of dementia research remains bright, efficient and globalised”.

 

Working in association with the meeting organisers and Alzheimer Europe, JPND member countries actively identified and partly-supported the participation of Young Leaders in the workshop. Indeed, several JPND members increased their allocated support to facilitate the participation of as many identified young leaders as possible.  JPND Management Board chair, Professor Philippe Amouyel represented JPND in the workshop. Click here to view Philippe’s JPND presentation on the day.

The event was also covered by JPND on twitter via @P_Amouyel, @JPNDeurope as well as from the @UKinFrance, @matt_houlihan accounts. Keep up to date using the twitter hashtag #YLDementia.

 

 

On February 26th, 2015, Australia joined the ‘JPco-fuND’ call for proposals.

Due to this late arrival, researchers from Australia can participate as external collaborators in proposals submitted to this call under specific conditions.

The specific conditions for researchers in Australia can be found on the “Specific regulations” page of the call.

Should a proposal involving a collaborator from Australia be recommended for funding, these collaborators are eligible for funding from the NHMRC National Institute of Dementia Research (NNIDR).

*Please Note: Under this call the NNIDR will only fund research that focusses primarily on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

The March 2015 editorial of The Lancet Neurology is entitled „Teaming up to fight neurodegenerative diseases„.

The editorial focuses on the recently-launched JPcofuND initiative.

To view the editorial, click here or on the link below.

The latest media articles on JPND (including previous Lancet Neurology editorials) are available here.

 

 

Image courtesy of The Lancet Neurology.

Since late 2014, a total of 25 JPND-supported transnational projects and working groups have begun their work to tackle the challenge of neurodegenerative diseases in a number of JPND priority areas.

JPND has now published user-friendly fact sheets of the individual projects and working groups which are supported under the following previously-launched JPND calls for research proposals.

The fact sheets are available on the particular call results page via the links above or through the „Supported Projects“ section of the JPND website.

 

 

On January 26th, 2015, Switzerland joined the recently-launched ‘JPco-fuND’ call for proposals.

Researchers from Switzerland are now able to participate as external collaborators in proposals submitted to this call under all three call topics.

Specific conditions will apply and can be found on the “Specific regulations” page of the call.

Should a proposal involving a collaboration with Switzerland be recommended for funding, this collaboration will be eligible for funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

 

The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) in partnership with the European Commission has launched the ‘JPco-fuND’ call for proposals aimed at supporting transnational research collaborations in three JPND priority areas:

  • Longitudinal Cohort Approaches;
  • Advanced Experimental Models;
  • Risk and Protective Factors.

The call will see more than 30 million euro being made available by JPND member countries, with a 10 million euro European Commission “topping up” fund.

‘Neurodegenerative Diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are a global health, economic and social emergency with numbers affected expected to double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050’ according to Professor Philippe Amouyel, Chair of the JPND Management Board. ‘With this in mind, JPND-participating countries have identified three further areas of greatest need for targeted investment in order to increase progress in the prevention and treatment of these diseases, as well as in patient care.

Professor Amouyel added ‘This call is launched as part of a major new cohesive action between JPND and the European Commission entitled JPco-fuND – the first concrete synergy between JPND and Horizon 2020 designed to address the global threat of neurodegenerative diseases’.

According to Professor Thomas Gasser, University of Tübingen and Chair of the JPND Scientific Advisory Board, ‘This call aims to pool the necessary expertise across Europe and globally to address these needs in the fight against neurodegenerative diseases. The call will support innovative, multi-disciplinary, collaborative research projects that will add value to the three research areas’.

The following neurodegenerative diseases are included for the three call topics outlined below:

  • Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
  • Parkinson’s disease and PD‐related disorders
  • Prion diseases
  • Motor neurone diseases
  • Huntington’s disease
  • Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA)
  • Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

Click here to link to the call for proposals webpage

Topic 1: Genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors of neurodegenerative diseases

The aim of the first topic is to attract international teams of researchers who will explore the different processes at work in normal aging versus neurodegenerative aging and determine what role genetic and environmental factors can play. Factors such as family history, gender, stress levels, nutrition and others, can affect an individual’s risk, and provide protection from, or even resilience to, neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is likely that a combination of factors are involved, so a critical step will be to establish the relationship between genetic, epigenetic, environmental and social factors and their relative importance in order to identify those factors that can be changed or modified. This topic is a re-launch of the 2012 JPND call in this priority area. Details of the currently-supported JPND projects in this area are available here on the JPND website.

JPND countries participating in this topic (18) Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom

Topic 2: Longitudinal cohort approaches in neurodegenerative diseases

The goal of this topic is to further scientific progress at a transnational level by enhancing the capabilities of existing cohort studies, or by linking related cohort studies in a synergistic way. This may include bringing together well-characterised relevant cohort groups to harmonize, or make accessible, data to promote secondary analysis; adding new measurements, sample collections or data sweeps that add significant value or provide linkage to other studies; establishing novel assessment measures, taking advantage of new technologies, extending beyond the cognitive domain (i.e. motor and perceptual function) that can be applied to the broad spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases; delivering methodological developments or enhancements to establish cohorts as intervention platforms.

JPND countries participating in this topic (19) Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom

Topic 3: Advanced animal or cell experimental models of neurodegenerative diseases This topic aims to support the creation of experimental models that are more predictive of neurodegenerative diseases. This is a key barrier to progress in research as most of the current models are unable to take into account the multiple genetic and environmental factors that lead to the development of these diseases. However, in order to reproduce the complexity of these diseases there is a need for consensus in validating the platforms to be provided, which can only be achieved through a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses the best teams in a collaborative effort at a transnational level. Therefore, this topic encourages the implementation of a next generation of reliable and well characterized animal and cell models for neurodegenerative diseases. This may include the development of novel animal models for specific diseases to better reproduce the complexity of the clinical features of the disease in humans, the enhancement of existing animal models, e.g., by fostering a deeper characterization of the phenotypes and pathologies, and the exploitation of novel or the improvement of existing neuronal, neuronal-like cells or inducible pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, generated from different sources.

JPND countries participating in this topic (18) Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Turkey

Note 1: The call has a two-step procedure, with a first stage (pre-proposal submission) deadline of 23:59h C.E.T. on March 10th 2015.

Note 2: Proposals may cover more than one of the topics specified above, as long as the relevant work is carried out in a country that will financially support the topic. The balance of awards between the three topics will be decided by the Peer Review Panel and will depend on the quality of the applications. More information on the participating countries in each topic, in addition to specific grant practicalities is available on the call for proposals page here.

Note 3: Call applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the JPND online partnering tool to showcase their research group’s expertise, search for appropriate partners and pitch call-related ideas. An improved, multi-lingual version of the pilot tool is available on the JPND website here.

Note 4: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 643417 – JPcofuND.

The JPND Action Group on palliative and end-of-life care has published its report, bringing together for the first time an analysis of gaps and collation of needs and opportunities for neurodegeneration research across JPND countries.

JPND is currently investigating the available evidence and gaps in knowledge in palliative care research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, with a view to implementing actions within the reach of its global research community.

A JPND Action Group on Palliative and End-of-Life Care met during 2014 and has reported back to JPND. The group was tasked with:

  • Analysing the nature and scale of relevant palliative and end-of-life care research initiatives among JPND member countries and EU-funded initiatives.
  • Consulting with the research community to establish the value of JPND actions.
  • Identifying the gaps within current palliative care research on ND and scoping the requirements to be considered in areas of unmet need.

Implementation of JPND actions in this area will be based on the advice in the report. These actions may include shared working across JPND member countries, funding of competitive calls, coordination of best practices and organization of transnational initiatives designed to share knowledge and provide training that does not currently exist in this research field.

The report can be downloaded at the link below.

As identified in the report, a number of implementation challenges will need to be overcome in order for JPND to support and facilitate research that informs how to shape palliative care across neurodegenerative diseases. The report also identified a number of areas where further thinking is specifically needed to provide the necessary consensus and framework to support future studies of impact for the field. These were:

  • Advance Care Planning which involves carer and family engagement in planning and decision-making over time.
  • The challenges of working with cognitive impairment in terms of communication, symptom management and end of life care.
  • The effectiveness of education + training interventions and linked competencies in practice for a range of generalist and specialist practitioners charged with the care of ND patients.
  • Engaging primary care providers (e.g. GPs, etc.) in palliative care planning.
  • Engaging with national voluntary groups and policy makers on actions and outcomes for ND

Priorities for action will be set by JPND Management Board for announcement in 2015.

The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) has announced a EUR 30 million call for neurodegenerative disease research topped-up with EUR 10 million from the Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation of the European Union.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are a truly global challenge.  Most of these diseases remain incurable and are strongly linked with aging populations. Dementias alone affect more than 7 million people in Europe and their care is estimated to cost  EUR 130 billion a year. The challenge facing the world of diagnosing, treating and caring for people affected by neurodegenerative diseases is extremely daunting and no single country alone has the expertise or resources necessary to tackle all of the big questions in this area.

JPND was established in 2009 to enable participating EU Member States to work together on the challenge of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s. In the past five years, tremendous progress has been made by JPND in terms of increasing coordination, collaboration and alignment between national research programmes and projects related to neurodegenerative diseases.  This has resulted in an unprecedented mobilization of human resources, actions, funding and awareness to tackle this problem which no country can address alone.

JPND have announced a major new cohesive action with the European Commission, entitled ‚JPcofuND‘. The initiative expects to launch a joint transnational call for proposals in January 2015 aimed at supporting international research collaborations in three JPND priority areas:  Longitudinal Cohorts, Animal and Cell Models, Risk and Protective Factors. This initiative will see more than EUR 30 million coming from the JPND member countries being made available, with an additional EUR 10 million European Commission “topping up” fund.

According to Professor Philippe Amouyel, Chair of the JPND Management Board

“this unique co-funded initiative further establishes concrete synergies with Horizon 2020 to address this global threat.Thisis a significant scale-up of implementation of the JPND research strategy, and a major step forward towards the realisation of a “European Research Area” dedicated to neurodegenerative disease research – an issue central to the joint programming concept.

European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas said:

„The EU Joint Programming approach tackles some of the major challenges we face as a society. Thanks to this new co-funded initiative of JPND and the European Commission, top European researchers will be working together to help the millions of people who suffer from Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. By making research more efficient and avoiding the duplication of work, this initiative will increase the prospects of real progress in the prevention and treatment of these diseases, as well as in patient care.“

A pre-call announcement, with the indicative titles of each topic, was made recently on the JPND website.  Further detail will be provided on this page on the call launch date in January 2015.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 643417 – JPcofuND

Media enquiries should be directed to:

Derick Mitchell

dmitchell@jpnd.eu

+353 1 442 9015