Project description
European platform for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases impose serious burdens on patients, families, healthcare providers and health authorities. However, there is hope that future treatments can target these diseases earlier. European cohorts for research on ageing and neurodegeneration represent a potential for biomarker discovery, but the lack of an overview of the availability of data and samples prevents their access. The EU-funded EPND project will develop a self sustaining European platform that will enable the discovery and access of relevant bio-samples and data. The project will adapt the existing informatics infrastructure to support resource- and participant-level discovery, data harmonisation, central and federated data and sample storage and data analysis.
Objective
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are common neurodegenerative conditions, posing a major societal burden. There is a lack of treatments to slow disease progression, and therapeutic development has been impeded by a lack of biomarkers that can detect individuals early in the disease, measure treatment effects, and stratify patients.
European cohorts recruited for research on aging and neurodegeneration provide a huge potential for biomarker discovery and validation by providing bio-samples along with deep clinical and imaging phenotypes. However, these cohorts are difficult to access. An overview of the availability of data and samples is lacking, and protocols and regulations for data and sample collection, storage, and sharing vary.
The European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases (EPND) will tackle the above issues by developing a self-sustaining European-based platform to facilitate discovery and access of relevant bio-samples and data. EPND will be built on an existing informatics infrastructure, the AD Workbench, which EPND will adapt to support resource- and participant-level discovery, data harmonisation, central and federated data and sample storage, and data analysis. The sample and data discovery tools will be connected to a network of over 60 cohorts on AD, PD, and related disorders. Together, these cohorts will facilitate access to data and samples of over 120,000 research participants including CSF (n=30,000), plasma (n=120,000), stools (n=6,000), urine (n=27,000), saliva (n=17,000) and digital biomarkers (n=2,000). Prospective data collection will also occur during the project. This approach provides the community with a new and powerful environment for collaborative cross study analysis of harmonised biomarkers, datasets and samples. EPND will provide visibility into the quality and standardization of the data and samples available in the platform from the cohorts available and will also provide protocols for ongoing data and sample collection. This will guarantee quality of samples available, an important factor for validation and regulatory approval for biomarkers.
EPND will be guided by ethical, legal and regulatory experts, patients, and other stakeholders to ensure responsible practices and processes underpin all discovery, sharing and access of data and samples, whilst simultaneously ensuring the platform is self-sustainable by the end of the project. Thereby, EPND will provide the community with a long-term, powerful environment to aid biomarker research for neurodegenerative disorders, enabling critical advances in the development of treatments for AD and PD.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands
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Participants (31)
LE1 7RH Leicester
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1011 Lausanne
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53127 Bonn
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1081 HV Amsterdam
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4365 ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE
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8010 Graz
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Legal entity other than a subcontractor which is affiliated or legally linked to a participant. The entity carries out work under the conditions laid down in the Grant Agreement, supplies goods or provides services for the action, but did not sign the Grant Agreement. A third party abides by the rules applicable to its related participant under the Grant Agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and control of expenditure.
3000 Leuven
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3521 AL Utrecht
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
405 30 Goeteborg
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1736 SENNINGERBERG
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
3830-352 Aveiro
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Participation ended
1081 HZ Amsterdam
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9713 GZ Groningen
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1211 Geneve
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OX1 2JD Oxford
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G2 4SQ Glasgow
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
WC2R 2LS London
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1445 Strassen
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3531AH Utrecht
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2340 Beerse
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4056 Basel
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4070 Basel
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94250 GENTILLY
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8152 Glattpark
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1070 Bruxelles / Brussel
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98033 Kirkland
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202 11 Malmo
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1015 Lausanne
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49131 Petach Tivka
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4362 Esch-Sur-Alzette
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28006 Madrid
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.