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Quantifying ageing related cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment

Project description

New partnership to study age-related cognitive decline

Ageing increases the likelihood of developing memory loss. Globally, the number of persons aged 80 or over is projected to triple by 2050. In Europe alone, a quarter of the population will be over age 60 by 2025. As a result, the effect of ageing on the brain and cognition is one of the most intensely studied topics through techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography and positron emission tomography. The EU-funded COGDEC project will focus on knowledge transfer of such state-of-the-art brain imaging methods to Slovenia’s University of Ljubljana via a partnership with the Austrian Medical University of Graz and the Belgian KU Leuven university.

Objective

University of Ljubljana, located in a low R&I performing country, will partner with two internationally-leading organisations, the Medical University of Graz and KU Leuven, to expand the support and coordination capacity for national and European research in ageing-related decrease in brain functions leading to dementia. By 2025 more than 25% of European population will be over 60 years old, with people over 80 increasing most rapidly. Cognitive function declines with ageing, but unpredictably, remaining practically stable over time or progress rapidly to dementia, when a person loses the ability to live independently and enjoy a reasonable quality of life. Detection of the transition from a pattern of normal, ageing-related decline to a state associated with the beginning of mild cognitive impairment is crucial for providing long term effective medical support and a better quality of life to ageing people. Several advanced brain imaging methods are used to detect mild cognitive impairment. As no single method is optimal for the early detection, there is an urgent need for further improvement/refinement of these methods. Through this proposed project we will transfer current state-of the art methods in brain imaging, including magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography and positron emission tomography, from the two internationally-leading organisations to Ljubljana. This will be achieved by mentored training of early stage researchers and other researchers through workshops, summer schools, short-term on-site training and expert visits. With the two internationally-leading organisations, we will prepare joint collaborative grant proposals and PhD projects during the life time of the Twinning project. These will enable further development of advanced brain imaging methods to study cognitive decline at the University of Ljubljana and sustain the newly formed research and technology network for the foreseeable future.

Fields of science

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Call for proposal

H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018-2020

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018-03

Coordinator

UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI
Net EU contribution
€ 557 246,25
Address
KONGRESNI TRG 12
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia

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Region
Slovenija Zahodna Slovenija Osrednjeslovenska
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 557 256,25

Participants (2)