JPND SYMPOSIUM 2022

More than 100 participants of JPND-supported research projects on neurodegenerative diseases gathered at the 2022 JPND /JPco-fuND 2 Mid-term Symposium to exchange best practices and new ideas in Brussels.

Leading researchers from 30 JPND-supported projects from the JPND/JPcofuND 2 calls of 2017 to 2019 gathered at the Royal Museums of the Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels on the 28th April 2022, to attend the full day symposium. Project topics presented ranged from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s diseases to rarer maladies such as Huntington’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Spinocerebellar Ataxia and Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD).

Professor Amouyel kickstarted the event and its first plenary session titled “Research Infrastructure for Neurodegenerative Diseases” with a welcome address to the 107 participants. This was followed by presentations on the research infrastructure for ND by Dr Johanna Bischof from EOSC-life and Dr Philippe Vernier, the French representative for EBRAINS.

Participants took part in different scientific sessions of the 2017 to 2019 JPND calls. A total of 30 projects were represented by their project coordinators and consortia partners in parallel scientific sessions throughout the morning. The six scientific sessions  were grouped into different call topics, ranging from Personalised Medicine to Health and Social Care to Pathway Analysis. These scientific sessions were complemented by panel discussions after the presentations.

The afternoon began with a second plenary session titled “JPND Global Approach” moderated by JPND Management Board (MB) member Dr Zvezdan Pirtošek and JPND communications manager, Ms Karin Yeo. JPND Chair Professor Amouyel and JPND MB member Mr Peter Volasko opened the session with introductory speeches on the importance of engaging the EU-13 nations in JPND’s combat against ND.

Representatives from some of these EU-13 countries came together to present the state of of play on ND research in their respective countries. Audience heard from Mr Argo Soon from the Estonian Research Council, Dr Elka Stefanova representing Serbia. Dr Pirtošek from Slovenia spoke about the Balkan and Southeast European perspectives on ND.

The symposium concluded with a Young Scientist Poster Award Presentation chaired by both Professor Amouyel and Professor Etienne Hirsch who gave out three prizes to the poster prize winning researchers.