Project description
Shedding light on how Alzheimer’s disease affects our brain early on
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that interferes with memory and thinking skills and eventually, the patient's ability to do everyday tasks. The aim of the EU-funded TRACE-AD project is to further understand how AD pathology affects brain networks that are important for memory function and are very early affected in the disease, as well as identify imaging markers of future cognitive decline. This may aid with improving patient selection and assessment of treatment response in future clinical AD trials. The project’s work could also help accelerate and decrease the costs of clinical trials and facilitate the development of disease-modifying therapies.
Objective
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a tremendous burden and there are still no therapies available. Most clinical trials have focused on the late disease stages where neuronal damage is already severe and irreversible. To intervene in earlier stages, it is essential to understand how AD pathology affects brain systems early in the disease. Beyond that, we need better markers to identify individuals at an early asymptomatic stage that will likely deteriorate in the coming years as well as measures of treatment response to assess the benefit of a treatment.
I focus on two functional brain systems that are critical for memory in humans and are very early affected by AD pathology. With the powerful and novel combination of positron-emission-tomography and ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging, I will unravel the early effects of AD pathology on brain connectivity and activity, grey matter loss and memory function within both brain systems. I will use a pseudo-longitudinal design to study changes in brain system integrity and memory during disease progression in the very early stages of AD. To identify predictive markers of progression, I will use monthly repeated smartphone-based assessments throughout one year to i) define cognitive trajectories of individual memory decline, ii) characterize stage-specific decline rates, and ii) determine the best cognitive and imaging markers for prediction of cognitive decline.
Taken together, this proposal will result in a more profound understanding of the earliest stages of AD and provide novel markers that will improve patient selection as well as assessment of treatment response in future clinical AD trials. This will advance the development of new disease-modifying therapies and early clinical diagnosis. Importantly, realizing this proposal will provide critical training of scientific and transferable skills that are required to follow my research interests and to set up my own research group in the future.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology neurodegenerative diseases dementia alzheimer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
- engineering and technology medical engineering diagnostic imaging magnetic resonance imaging
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
22100 Lund
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.