JPND and NIH Awards to Support New Transatlantic Collaborations

Two major research funding entities in the EU and US are joining forces for the first time to optimise and harmonise research into neurodegenerative diseases. The EU Joint Programme on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) and the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today the creation of a new cross-initiative action to link and support collaborations between researchers working in the field.
NIH and JPND ran separate calls for proposals in 2017 to investigate common mechanisms and pathways in neurodegenerative diseases. With this joint action, researchers supported under the JPND call are invited to team up with researchers supported under the NIH call, and vice versa, to propose joint activities such as common workshops, data exchanges and pilot experiments. These activities will add value to the science being undertaken in ongoing projects by accelerating knowledge transfer between research groups.”Collaboration is the key to progressing our understanding of the biological underpinnings of neurodegenerative disease,” said JPND Chair Professor Philippe Amouyel. “These awards will offer NIH and JPND researchers the opportunity to more systematically and efficiently connect and share knowledge, tools and data. They will enhance current investigations into the fundamental mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases while also planting the seeds of future collaboration.”“This is a crucial time of expanding global interest and support for neurodegenerative disease research,” said Dr. Eliezer Masliah, director of the NIA’s Division of Neuroscience. “In our connected age, breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, Lewy body disease, frontotemporal dementia and other neurological disorders require teamwork, and we look forward to strengthening the scientific connections between talented researchers across the EU and the US.”