Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) poses an unbearable impact in patients’ life, through progressive loss of cognitive capacities and overall quality of life. In Europe alone, there is currently a €280 bn yearly expenditure related to AD and ~10% of the population above 65 years old is currently affected by the disease, a figure that is expected to triple in the immediate future. No treatment alternatives are available for AD patients with diagnosed disease and the existing diagnostic tools are very time consuming and expensive (6 months / 10.000 EUR). While AD is not curable at final stages of disease, detection at early stages offer several treatment alternatives for example through counseling and/or dietary interventions. Detection and treatment of AD in its initial stages could provide major therapeutic and societal benefits. Treatment strategies at early stages could either slow down or even cure AD which would dramatically reduce the health care costs. PreDiagnostics will exploit and transfer research knowledge developed by its founders to a commercial setting and provide a diagnostic tool to identify patients at early stages before disease is evident. Through the VERDAD project, PreDiagnostics will finalize the final regulatory steps and introduce into the market a novel, accurate and cost-effective blood biomarker detection tool. This tool directly analyses the patients’ brain metabolism and detects reduced clearance of beta-amyloid which is the first step in AD pathology. The VERDAD project will allow for market introduction of a disruptive diagnostic test to identify AD decades before clinical signs are visible. This will facilitate early disease diagnosis and implementation of prevention strategies in likely patients. We have developed necessary collaborations to roll-out our diagnostic tool which will lead to major costs saving for the Health Care sector, generate new employment opportunities and in unlock a revenue stream of over €1.5bn 10-years post-Project.

FluiDx-AD aims to transform Alzheimer’s disease (AD) diagnosis and prepare the EU healthcare systems for the emergence of new AD therapies, with a 1st-in-class trio of In Vitro Diagnostics tests. FluiDx-AD tests detect a unique and proprietary suite of biomarkers in simple bodily fluids (saliva, plasma/blood), towards widespread, patient-empowering, and all-inclusive AD diagnosis, at least as accurate as the costly and invasive procedures currently in place. FluiDx-AD tests have the potential to shorten AD diagnosis by 7-15 years, by detecting biomarkers that mark the onset of AD years before the appearance of clinical symptoms. Earlier diagnosis means earlier access to preventive interventions, which are now more effective thanks to next-generation immunotherapies. The clinical use of these new drugs is not consensual though, because of the severe side-effects they inflict in some patients. FluiDx-AD tests offer a pioneering tool to stratify and monitor patients eligible for these drugs, towards reducing their associated risk and accelerating their regulatory clearance in the EU. FluiDx-AD tests are thus devised to work complementarily and sequentially, covering the full AD diagnostic journey (from population-wide screenings to confirmatory diagnosis, and downstream patient stratification and monitoring), tackling key challenges of early AD diagnosis and AD prevention with new drugs, while also paving the way for the development of new therapies by streamlining patient selection and appraisal in clinical trials. FluiDx-AD brings together a team of highly motivated, committed, and reputed entrepreneurs, clinicians, and scientists from biotechs, hospitals, academic centres, and patient organizations across the EU. Leveraging our unique blend of trans-disciplinary/-sectoral expertise and access to advanced technologies and infrastructures, we join forces to realize the vision of a new era of AD clinical management for the benefit of millions of patients globally.

Neurodegenerative disorders are among the leading causes of mortality and will become more relevant in our continuously aging societies. Most neurodegenerative disorders exhibit alterations in proteostasis, i.e. an imbalance between protein production, sorting and degradation. The secretory and the autophagic pathways are two major regulators of cellular proteostasis and their crosstalk is likely to be relevant for neurodegeneration. Thus, there is a need to train a new generation of early stage researchers that will exploit and translate the fundamental biology principles of autophagy, secretion and their crosstalk in human diseases. Our ETN will explore the links between Secretion, Autophagy and their role in NeuroDegeneration (SAND) and will consolidate the position of Europe as a leader in this field by: (i) providing a framework for training and supervision of students to provide them with a repertoire of transferrable and scientific skills that will equip them for careers in academia and industry. (ii) bringing together leading experts in the fields of autophagy, secretion and neurodegeneration from academia and industry into a consortium that involves 22 participants from 12 countries (12 academic beneficiaries from 13 institutions, 3 industry beneficiaries, 4 non-academic partners and 3 academic partner institutions) (iii) using a unifying strategy such as a common stock of cell lines for screening and a common electronic custom-made database tailored to the needs of our consortium (iv) combining complementary expertise such as systems biology, chemical biology, model organisms (zebrafish, drosophila and mouse models), cellular models (neuronal cell lines, primary neurons and patient-derived iPSC neurons) and techniques (e.g. EM, intravital imaging, proteomics, microfluidics) (v) exploiting the translational potential because the network contains three clinically active neurologists, non-academic partners interested in development of drugs and diagnost

More than 10 million Europeans show signs of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition intermediate between normal brain ageing and dementia. The evolution of MCI differs from person to person; some remain stable or return to normal, but 50% progress to dementia within five years. Current practice lacks the necessary screening tools to identify those 50% at risk. The patient’s journey typically takes many years of inefficient clinical follow-ups before a conclusive diagnosis is finally reached. AI-Mind will radically shorten this journey to 1 week through a digital solution that is able to provide a fast and accurate (>95%) prediction for the individual dementia risk. Our AI-Mind platform service, can be easily integrated into existing clinical practices and contains 2 new artificial-intelligence-based tools. The AI-Mind Connector identifies dysfunctional brain networks. The AI-Mind Predictor assesses demen-tia risk using data from the Connector, advanced cognitive tests, genetic biomarkers and important textual variables. Our aim is to set up a European clinical network that will upload patient data to the AI-Mind European cloud platform. The consortium comprises excellent researchers in neuroscience and computer science, from 5 clinical cen-tres, who closely collaborate with 3 SMEs contributing unique technologies, an established data govern-ance body, and Alzheimer Europe. Together, they plan to deliver a medical device of class 2b that can reach TRL7 by the end of the project. AI-Mind represents a major step forward in the risk assessment of dementia. Clinicians will promptly advise therapies to delay the onset of disease, and patients will enjoy independent lives for longer. By offering a globally accessible, cheap and precise tool for dementia pre-diction, AI-Mind will improve the health care system and boost innovation by shifting the R&D of phar-maceutical organisations and other companies to preventive diagnostic methods and therapies for dementia.