Lifebrain has completed all project milestones.
An extensive system has been developed for the data sharing between the scientific partners. The infrastructure for secure data storage and management has been developed and established on a dedicated Lifebrain project area on the secure services for sensitive data system of UiO.
Data categorization as part of the data harmonization task has been fulfilled for all Lifebrain studies and time points at the 7 data collection sites. Variables of interest have been identified, site-specific codebooks established, guidelines and templates have been designed for establishing data tables shaping the basis for the core Lifebrain database.
To harmonize the analyses of the available Lifebrain brain imaging data , a standardized imaging analysis stream has been developed based on a Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS). Partner sites transferred imaging data in BIDS format to the central processing site. Sites have reprocessed and analysed structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images using the same image software versions.
Online data enrichment has been implemented in order to maximize data comparability across the Lifebrain sites, involving around 2600 participants.
Part of the data enrichment process included Dried Blood Spots (DBS) home kits. 1733 Lifebrain DBS samples from 4 different centres were analysed for 14 analytes such as fatty acids, cholesterol, vitamin D, cytokines, lipidomics and minerals.
UzL has distributed buccal swabs for self-sampling of cells from the inside of the cheek for genetic analyses. UzL has reached out to all relevant Lifebrain collaborators with respect to the existence, availability and accessibility of Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) data. Approximately 5232 samples have been collected for the GWAS analyses in Lifebrain. Of these, approximately 3673 have been subject to DNA methylation profiling for the purpose of Epigenome Wide Association Study (EWAS). Most of the GWAS-relevant data and all of the EWAS-relevant data have been newly generated from Lifebrain funding.
Novel longitudinal statistical tools have been developed to exploit the potential of the large Lifebrain cohorts. Among these, a statistical framework accustomed to estimate reliability and to identify sources of measurement error in order to improve the precision of measurement in future study designs. Two open-access manuscripts describing this framework have been published. One published open-access methods paper concerns reducing the dimensionality of complex data, while accommodating for known structure. An article on meta-analyses of longitudinal neuroimaging data has been published along with a paper on open source statistical tools.
Lifebrain organised stakeholder engagement activities, including workshops, public lectures and conferences. We have also published a qualitative in-depth interview study that collected information on the views and perceptions of healthy adults participating in brain research studies, at 4 sites, on brain health and personalized brain health prevention. Based on the findings of this study we developed an international questionnaire and initiated the global brain health survey, which got more than 27 500 responses from 81 countries. The results got published in 2 scientific articles, and 2 public reports.
Lifebrain continuously disseminated information about its research results, publications, events and deliverables via the Lifebrain website, Facebook page, Twitter account, as well as a monthly e-newsletter. The three stakeholder workshops in which clinicians, policymakers and patient organisations participated, provided the basis for channeling the upcoming Lifebrain results into clinical practice and health policy. Lifebrain has hosted five public lectures, one webinar and organised two conferences. These events attracted the general public, were well attended and disseminated the latest research results in the brain health field. A policy review has been conducted and reported on European policies. The review explores how Lifebrain results could be relevant and may be used to promote personalized health policies.
The key findings of Lifebrain has been published in a brief.
