The SAND project has achieved advancements beyond current knowledge, as evidenced by presentations at our four annual meetings (2020-2023) and at various national and international scientific conferences, as well as more than 25 scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals to date. These achievements include discovering new factors involved in autophagy and secretion regulation, understanding the mechanisms of protein aggregate formation, identifying interaction partners and post-translational changes in aggregate-prone proteins, developing new cell and animal models to study NDs, and characterizing chemical compounds that influence autophagy and secretion. In conclusion, the results obtained within SAND provide a deeper insight into the mechanisms of autophagy, secretion, their interaction, and their roles in protein aggregation and ND development.
By integrating expertise from diverse fields, including vesicular trafficking, autophagy, chemical biology, neuroscience, computational sciences, systems biology, and clinical neurology, SAND has bridged basic research to translational applications, paving the way for potential new treatments for NDs. This is vital, as NDs are projected to become the second leading cause of death in the next 20 years, with an aging population. Thus, SAND's outcomes hold significant interest for both the research community and the clinical and industrial sectors. Moreover, through an extensive training program, SAND ESRs have obtained highly valuable skills necessary for successful careers in academia or the industry.
