PROJECT PARTNERS
Fundació ACE. Institut Català de Neurociències Aplicades
(FACE)
Fundació ACE. Institut Català de Neurociències Aplicades (F. ACE) is a non-profit organization located in Barcelona. F. ACE was registered and declared a welfare institution by the Government of Catalonia in 1995. The entity was designed following the organization, methodology of Alzheimer’s Research Centres funded by the National Institute of Aging /NIH (USA). F. ACE mission is to manage dementia in a multidisciplinary way and it has become a global reference in the treatment, research and management of dementia. The foundation has executed dozens of competitive research projects since its creation. It has made important contributions in the field of neurodegeneration. Its research is pretty wide from social research, social robotics or brain training software to molecular epidemiology, phenomics, genomewide association studies, biomarker research, bioinformatics, drug re-profiling or neuroimaging.
The research centre at Fundació ACE comprises a team devoted specifically to research, which includes brain imaging, clinical and basic research, including genetics, bioinformatics, and clinical trials. The team includes data managers and doctoral-level biologists, physicians, pharmacists, biostatisticians and physicists, a doctoral-level psychologist as well as information technology consultants who build and maintain the computer infrastructure for F. ACE, and who work to design experiments and analyse data from the researchers. The Research centre has high performance computing, bioinformatics, sample processing lab, drug manipulation and preparation lab, human genetics laboratory, biobank and biomarker/CT research facilities.
AbbVie
(ABBVIE)
AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company's mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world's most complex and serious diseases. Together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmacyclics, AbbVie employs more than 28,000 people worldwide and markets medicines in more than 170 countries. In Germany AbbVie is based in Wiesbaden with its country headquarter and in Ludwigshafen with a R&D and manufacturing site. In total AbbVie Germany employs about 2.600 people.
AbbVie has a fully established Drug Discovery and Development organization, supporting Neuroscience, Immunology and Oncology. Expertise relevant to ADAPTED includes deep insight in neurobiology, main classes of biological targets with various types of assays, drug discovery and development and computational biology.
For further information on the company visit www.abbvie.de or www.abbvie.com or follow @abbvie_de on Twitter.
Biogen Idec
(BIOGEN)
Biogen Idec is one of the world’s leading neuroscience biotechnology companies. We develop medicines that change the lives of people living with neurodegenerative diseases, hematologic conditions and autoimmune disorders. Biogen Idec is committed to developing new therapies for patients living with neurological disorders. At Biogen, Alzheimer’s disease is considered a high priority area of research and development. In addition to elucidating mechanisms that underlie the disease and developing meaningful treatments for those with AD, Biogen is committed to sponsoring collaborative research to benefit the entire community.
Biogen Idec has a fully established R&D and manufacturing organization located in Cambridge, MA (USA). Biogen Idec has expertise with both large and small molecule drug discovery and development.
Centro Andaluz de Estudios Bioinformaticos
(CAEBi)
CAEBi is a private independent research centre specialized in research studies involving the management and analysis of large databases using bioinformatics tools. CAEBi have expertise in the analysis of genomic data (GWAS, NGS), expression profiles, epidemiological and pharmacoepidemiological data, as well as in systems biology and multi-omics analysis. CAEBi also has experience in data management of sensible data and in the implementation of data platforms for clinical trials and basic research as evidenced by over 100 scientific publications in the fields of Epidemiology, Pharmacoepidemiology and Genomics. They also have a network of collaborators both from the academia and from other research centres. One of our goals at CAEBi is to share their expertise with other researchers interested in receiving training in this type of analysis through courses, short stays in the center and collaborations. In addition, CAEBi professionals are actively involved in the development of new tools for bioinformatics analysis.
The main facilities related to ADAPTED will be access to servers, databases, and bio-statistical software.
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
(CSIC)
The CSIC is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Belonging to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and technological progress, and it is prepared to collaborate with Spanish and foreign entities in order to achieve this aim. Its mission is to foster, coordinate, develop and promote scientific and technological research, of a multidisciplinary nature, in order to contribute to advancing knowledge and economic, social and cultural development.
The Cajal Institute/Instituto Cajal (IC: www.cajal.csic.es) and the National Centre for Biotechnology/Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB: www.cnb.csic.es) participate in ADAPTED. They have the following facilities and technologies:
-Cell culture laboratories with P-II Biosecurity rooms
-Flow cytometry
-Confocal Microscopy and Imaging
-Proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics, bioinformatics and scientific computing
-Cell and Molecular Biology
-Electron Microscopy
DC Biosciences
(DCP)
DC Biosciences provides pharmaceutical and biotech companies with novel technologies and proteomics services to accelerate the development of safer drugs. We are best placed to apply our knowledge and experience in a wide range of bioscience disciplines including quantitative proteomics, chemical biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics and cell biology to provide solutions in key areas of drug discovery and development.
We have developed a quantitative proteomics-based technology portfolio that offers solutions to preclinical activities of the drug discovery process and developed new processes for biomarker discovery and validation, drug re-profiling and repositioning. DC Biosciences will contribute to the ADAPTED project using cutting edge quantitative proteomics technologies.
Erasmus Medical Centre
(EMC)
Erasmus Universitair Medisch Centrum Rotterdam (EMC) is the academic hospital of the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands and home to the Erasmus University faculty of medicine. The largest university medical centre in the Netherlands, EMC plays a key role in research, education and patient care in the Netherlands. Research at EMC combines its internationally acknowledged expertise in the fields of clinical sciences, health sciences and biomedical sciences. The Erasmus Medical Centre ranks #1 among the top European institutions in clinical medicine and #20 in the world according to the Times Higher Education rankings.
The proposed research will be conducted in the Department of Epidemiology at EMC. The Department of Epidemiology is responsible for training medical and postgraduate students at EMC in the principles of epidemiology. The Department of Epidemiology is one of the participating departments in the research school NIHES (Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences). The department is also home to the two large prospective cohort studies, the Rotterdam Study including almost 15,000 participants over 45 years of age and Generation R, including almost 10,000 children and their parents.
Janssen Pharmaceutica NV
(JANSSEN)
Janssen Research & Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV is part of the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Group which operates worldwide under the name “Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson”. The main research facilities for Janssen Research & Development in Europe are located in Beerse, Belgium, with research focused neuroscience, oncology, and infectious diseases.
The Neuroscience department in Beerse is equipped with state of the art facilities for in vitro and in vivo research and development projects, and is complemented by medicinal chemistry. Expertise and laboratory facilities around all main classes of biological targets, including GPCRs, proteases, kinases, and ion-channels, with various types of assays are available. Expertise in synapse biology with focus on neurodegenerative diseases has been established and is mainly focussing on Alzheimer’s disease.
Modus Research and Innovation
(MOD)
MODUS Research and Innovation Limited is a not for profit legal entity with the objective of facilitating collaborative research and innovation across the academic and business sectors. As an intermediary operating in the market space between business and academia, MODUS interacts with many R&D based businesses as well Universities and Research Institutes. In particular, MODUS offers expertise in planning for the exploitation of project results and the management of H2020 research and innovation projects. H2020 Project Management Support services cover all of the management and reporting requirements of the Commission allowing the coordinator to focus on leading the scientific and research aspects of the project. The MODUS team has over 14-years of experience managing Framework programme. The management team all have scientific research backgrounds, and are trained in project management as well as H2020 requirements, ensuring that they can provide informed support in a wide variety of projects.
LEIDEN UNIVERSITY
(UL)
The Division of Analytical Biosciences is part of the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) at the Faculty of Science of Leiden University. LACDR is a leading institute dedicated to world-class research and education in drug discovery and development. Leiden University is the initiator and leader of the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre (NMC), a multidisciplinary public-private partnership academic groups, clinical centres, research institutes and industrial partners. It has established a world class metabolomics knowledge infrastructure, in which new methods for metabolomics-driven systems biology and systems pharmacology are developed, and applied within the Biomedical Metabolomics Facility at the Leiden University.
Leiden University has extensive experience in biomarker discovery with metabolomics in clinical and preclinical studies. Ten metabolomics platforms are available to analyse more than 2000 metabolites and lipids, with half of them reported with identities, and 500 with absolute concentrations (www.bmfl.nl). Most metabolomics platforms have been optimized for metabolic, vascular and neurological diseases. The platforms targeting neurotransmitters, oxylipins, oxidative/nitrosative stress and the global platforms for lipids and central carbon/energy metabolism cover relevant processes. The Metabolomics Facility analyses more than 15,000 clinical and preclinical samples per year according to a quality system.
MIMETAS B.V
(MIM)
MIMETAS develops better predictive human tissue and disease models for pharma, food and chemicals using organ-on-a-chip technology. MIMETAS‘s current flagship models in OrganoPlates® comprise the human proximal kidney tubule, central nervous system, colon and small intestine, liver and blood vessels. These models are unsurpassed in terms of physiological relevance and throughput and funded and adopted by major pharma companies worldwide. The MIMETAS value proposition is protected by a broad patent portfolio, proprietary microfluidic technology, extensive biological know-how and a unique mass manufacturing plant.
In the ADAPTED project, the strong expertise of MIMETAS on microfluidics and application/model development will enable the creation of physiologically relevant 3D cell models incorporating perfusion flow and co-culture techniques as proposed in WP2, and to use the models to generate omics data for in vitro-in vivo comparison, development and validation of targeted therapeutic strategies.
Unviversitaetsklinikum Bonn
(UKB)
The University Clinic Bonn (Universitaetsklinikum Bonn, UKB) covers the full spectrum of medical service and hosts several research institutes and departments. The structure and organization of the UKB and the faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn allows close collaborations of medical doctors and basic scientists. A major research focus of UKB is neuroscience and in particular neurodegenerative diseases.
The Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology (IRN) at the UKB focuses on the use of pluripotent stem cells for the study and treatment of neurological disorders. Based on a broad technology portfolio including cell reprogramming, neural differentiation, direct cell fate conversion, stem cell industrialization and neurotransplantation, IRN develops stem cell-based model systems for disease-related research and drug development as well as novel cell therapy regimens. It closely interacts with LIFE & BRAIN GmbH, a translational hub of the University of Bonn providing stem cell products and services for pharma, biotech and academia.
IRN is an active member of the IMI project 'European bank for induced pluripotent stem cells (EBiSC)'.
University Hospital of Cologne
(UKK)
The University Hospital of Cologne (UKK) covers the full spectrum of medical service and hosts several research institutes and departments. The structure and organization of the UKK and the faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn allows close collaborations of medical doctors and basic scientists. A major research focus of UKB is neuroscience and in particular neurodegenerative diseases.
The Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy with its research group on functional genomics of cognition (Head: Dr. A. Ramirez) is focused on the identification of genetics and epigenetics causes of cognitive disorders. Dr. Ramirez’ research group combines different genome-wide approaches (“omics”) to identify genetic and epigenetic factors modulating relevant biomarkers for neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyloid-β42 and phosphorylated Tau. His group also explores the contribution of these risk factors in the rate of conversion from pre-clinical stages to clinical stages of dementia in large well-characterized longitudinal samples.
UKK will provide ADAPTED access to Sequenom Compact MALDI-TOF device Illumina platform, Next generation sequencing Illumina platform for array analysis and the AgeCoDe cohort, and Dementia Competence network (DCN).