The National Science Centre has announced that two research teams from the JU Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology have won the 2019 edition of the JPco-fuND 2 international call.
JPND (EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research) is the largest global research initiative aimed at tackling the challenge of neurodegenerative diseases. JPND aims to increase coordinated investment between participating countries in research aimed at finding causes, developing cures, and identifying appropriate ways to care for those with neurodegenerative diseases. The neurodegenerative diseases that JPND focuses on are the following: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease (PD) and PD-related disorders, prion disease, motor neuron diseases (MND), Huntington’s disease (HD), spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Within the JPco-fuND 2 over EUR 29,3 million have been granted to 18 research projects, three of which will be realised in Poland.
One of them is NMJ-on-a-Chip: Humanized high-throughput co-culture system for motor neuron diseases. The Polish part of the team is led by Prof. Józef Dulak, head of the JU Department of Medical Biotechnology. The project will feature scientists from partner institutions from France, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy. Researchers will attempt to develop new pharmacological methods of treating motor neuron diseases, most widely recognised of which are amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal muscular atrophy.
The other project, Gums&Brain: Alzheimer’s disease as a co-morbidity of chronic periodontitis with Porphyromonas gingivalis as a causative link between both diseases, coordinated at the University by Prof. Jan Potempa from the JU Department of Microbiology, will be devoted to the role of periodontosis and Porphyromonas gingivialis in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Researcher from Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, and Norway are planning to develop an innovative, precise test which will allow to identify the presence of the bacterium in the central nervous system.
The full list of projects recommended for funding within the framework of the competition is available at neurodegenerationresearch.eu.
