PROGRAMME SUMMARY
The EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) will launch a new cohesive action with the European Commission – a call for “mechanisms and measurement of disease progression in the early phase of neurodegenerative diseases.”
Neurodegenerative diseases are debilitating and largely untreatable conditions that are strongly linked with age. Worldwide, there are estimated to be 50 million people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, the most common class of neurodegenerative diseases. This figure is expected to double every 20 years as the population ages. The total direct and informal care costs of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and related disorders are expected to surpass €350 billion per year across the European Union and about US$ one trillion worldwide. Existing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases are limited in effect and mainly address the symptoms rather than the cause or the progressive course. With this in mind, JPND has identified a pressing need for investment aimed at enabling research projects on understanding the mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions.
Several non-pharmacological interventions have been shown to be effective and accepted by patients, e. g. from existing cohort data. Such interventions may include, among others, psychosocial interventions, neuromodulation, nutrition or exercise. Although neurodegenerative diseases are recognised as multifactorial syndromes, there is little interaction between biomedical and psychosocial approaches. One rationale for integrating biomedical and psychosocial research is the discordance between neuropathology and cognitive functioning. However, there is yet little knowledge about the mechanisms of non-pharmacological interventions, e. g. on the molecular or cellular level.
2023 CALL
It is known that the onset of neurodegenerative diseases occurs years before the appearance of the first clinical symptoms. However, our current understanding on the biological, psychological and social mechanisms that determine early disease progression as well as our ability to precisely monitor the course of the disease at pre-symptomatic stages is very limited. Delayed detection of disease progression may be the reason for the multiple failures observed in clinical trials during the past years. In this context, improving our understanding of the crucial biological mechanisms and psychosocial factors determining risk and resilience for neurodegenerative diseases is needed along with an enhanced measurability of disease progression through the establishment of advanced biological and psychosocial markers. Respective advancements may allow a more accurate identification of pre-symptomatic disease stages and a reliable monitoring of disease progression, thereby enabling a better prediction of disease trajectories and paving the way for new therapeutic and preventive approaches.
For this reason, JPND launches this joint transnational call with the aim of improving the understanding of disease mechanisms and advancing measurability of disease progression at early and pre-symptomatic stages of neurodegenerative diseases. Proposals to this call must be ambitious, innovative, multi-disciplinary and multi-national, i.e. include research teams from at least three different countries. They must be hypothesis driven and should have a strong focus on methodology.
FUNDING SPECIFICS
Total funding for this Call is around 18 MEUR. The FNR has allocated 350,000 EUR for this Call, which is expected to fund 1 – 2 projects involving Luxembourg partners.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
- The Luxembourg project partner needs to be eligible for FNR funding.
- Pre and full proposals must additionally be submitted to the FNR, along with the FNR INTER documents, no later than 7 working days after the JPND deadlines. This must be done via the FNR Grant Management System.