Final Report Summary - NEURODYS (Dyslexia genes and neurobiological pathways)
NEURODYS was established in June 2006 and commenced in June 2009. With the funding of the European Union the main aims of NEURODYS were to:
1) identify dyslexia genes;
2) test for the presence of gene-gene and gene-phenotype relationships;
3) investigate neurobiological correlates of dyslexia and
4) ensure that knowledge and skills derived from NEURODYS reach and inform the research community, affected individuals, healthcare services and providers, policy makers and wider society.
In order to reach these goals multiple collaborations within Europe were formed. Altogether, the expertise of scientists from Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Sweden and Switzerland came together to form the NEURODYS consortium. This collaboration brought together knowledge from a very broad scientific community. The research strengths of NEUORDYS were based on the common and proved expertise amongst members in dyslexia research. This expertise ranged from backgrounds in dyslexia relating to genetics, behavioural, neurofunctional, neurophysiological, developmental and clinical.
An important success of NEURODYS to date is the establishment of the world's largest database consisting of phenotypic and genotypic data on children with dyslexia. A total of 1644 children with dyslexia and 1281 healthy matched controls were recruited from across Europe. The database consists of the results from a comprehensive task battery of cognitive measures assessing non-word decoding, spelling, phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, rapid automatised naming and the DNA samples of all participants. This large collection of data enables the NEURODYS consortium to investigate a number of important questions regarding the causal nature of dyslexia. Once the genetic analyses are complete, the research will focus on the elucidation of dyslexia endophenotypes. Highlighting the promising nature and immense research impact this dataset has, NEURODYS members have already successfully published papers. Furthermore, publications in top journals regarding the neural and phenotypic data have emerged, or are being prepared. Numerous future publications are planned. The database will also be used to answer future questions regarding the genetic nature of dyslexia, and will also be exploited to explore gene-behaviour relationships. Finally, the data can be used to understand how genetic codes might contribute to deviant neurofunctional, neuroanatomical and neurophysioliogical findings.
1) identify dyslexia genes;
2) test for the presence of gene-gene and gene-phenotype relationships;
3) investigate neurobiological correlates of dyslexia and
4) ensure that knowledge and skills derived from NEURODYS reach and inform the research community, affected individuals, healthcare services and providers, policy makers and wider society.
In order to reach these goals multiple collaborations within Europe were formed. Altogether, the expertise of scientists from Austria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Sweden and Switzerland came together to form the NEURODYS consortium. This collaboration brought together knowledge from a very broad scientific community. The research strengths of NEUORDYS were based on the common and proved expertise amongst members in dyslexia research. This expertise ranged from backgrounds in dyslexia relating to genetics, behavioural, neurofunctional, neurophysiological, developmental and clinical.
An important success of NEURODYS to date is the establishment of the world's largest database consisting of phenotypic and genotypic data on children with dyslexia. A total of 1644 children with dyslexia and 1281 healthy matched controls were recruited from across Europe. The database consists of the results from a comprehensive task battery of cognitive measures assessing non-word decoding, spelling, phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, rapid automatised naming and the DNA samples of all participants. This large collection of data enables the NEURODYS consortium to investigate a number of important questions regarding the causal nature of dyslexia. Once the genetic analyses are complete, the research will focus on the elucidation of dyslexia endophenotypes. Highlighting the promising nature and immense research impact this dataset has, NEURODYS members have already successfully published papers. Furthermore, publications in top journals regarding the neural and phenotypic data have emerged, or are being prepared. Numerous future publications are planned. The database will also be used to answer future questions regarding the genetic nature of dyslexia, and will also be exploited to explore gene-behaviour relationships. Finally, the data can be used to understand how genetic codes might contribute to deviant neurofunctional, neuroanatomical and neurophysioliogical findings.
