MEMOSAD

by Prof. Dr. med. Franz Adlkofer, Stiftung Verum

Representatives of 10 European research institutions convened in Munich to announce the founding of an international research consortium under the acronym MEMOSAD, which intends to study the mechanisms of memory loss in Alzheimer disease and to develop disease-modifying therapeutics for the prevention of the early symptom characteristic of this degenerative disorder. For this purpose, the MEMOSAD consortium has been awarded a 3-year, 3 million Euro grant from the European Union (EU) under its 7th Framework Programme (FP7).

The consortium is brought together and coordinated by VERUM - Foundation for Behaviour and Environment, a non-profit organisation in Munich, Germany, with the goal to combine the still scattered European resources and, thus, to increase European competitiveness in this area of research especially with the US. The MEMOSAD consortium consists of Europe’s leading research centres in basic neuroscience, 3 from Germany, 2 from Belgium, 1 from France, 1 from Ireland, and 1 from Spain. The consortium also includes a biotechnology company from the UK that will assist in the development of therapeutic drugs for disease prevention.

Alzheimer disease is amongst the most debilitating illnesses and puts an enormous strain on both the patients suffering from this devastating disease and their relatives as well as the social and healthcare budgets all over Europe. There is currently no treatment available that can halt or prevent - let alone reverse - the resulting nerve cell degeneration. This is mostly due to the fact that the underlying causes of this disorder are only poorly understood. A hallmark of the Alzheimer disease is the deposition of protein aggregates in the brain consisting of Abeta, which forms plaques outside the neurons, and Tau, which generates tangles inside the neurons. Several lines of evidence suggest that the impairment of memory in the early stage of Alzheimer disease can be caused by tiny protein assemblies even before they aggregate into fibers, occurs much earlier than the actual death of neurons, and is caused by subtle changes in the synapses which are responsible for communication between neurons in the brain. The toxic Abeta and Tau species that cause synaptic dysfunction, their mechanism of toxicity, and the link between both pathologies remains largely unknown, although recent research suggests that Abeta accumulation triggers Tau pathology. Unravelling the pathologic pathways that lead from Abeta through Tau to synaptotoxicity and memory loss should reveal novel targets for therapeutic intervention. Therefore, the aim of the MEMOSAD consortium is to detect 3 or 4 validated therapeutic targets and at least 2 compounds with demonstrated therapeutic efficacy initially in animal models.

Stiftung Verum

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Consortium

• Prof. Franz Adlkofer, VERUM - Stiftung für Verhalten und Umwelt, München, Deutschland
• Prof. Bart De Strooper, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Leuven, Belgien
• Dr. Eva-Maria Mandelkow, Max-Planck-Arbeitsgruppe für Strukturelle Molekularbiologie, Hamburg, Deutschland
• Prof. Luc Buée, Université Lille 2, Lille, Frankreich
• Prof. Dominic Walsh, University College Dublin, Irland
• Prof. Christian Haass, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Deutschland
• Prof. Ralf Baumeister, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Deutschland
• Prof. Carlos A. Saura, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spanien
• Prof. Rudi D'Hooge, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgien
• Dr. David Scopes, Senexis Limited, Cambridge, Großbritannien

MEMOSAD

"Memory loss: underlying mechanisms and therapy". A Collaborative Project receiving funds from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), Grant Agreement No. 200611

7th FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME

The Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7) is the European Union's main instrument for funding research in Europe. Since their launch in 1984, these Programmes have played a lead role in multi-disciplinary research and cooperative activities in Europe and beyond. FP7 continues that task, and is both larger and more comprehensive. Running from 2007 to 2013, the programme has a budget of 53.2 billion euros over its lifespan.