EPND launches its extended Catalogue, enabling discovery of over 75 neurodegenerative disease studies with 240,000+ research participants

08/03/2024

The development of effective treatments and accurate diagnostics requires biomarkers for early detection of neurodegenerative disease in individuals, for assessing treatment efficacy, and for patient stratification. Thanks to funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), EPND (the European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases) is establishing a data-and sample-sharing platform for collaborative, large-scale biomarker research. Alzheimer Europe is one of 29 public- and private sector partners in EPND, and is proud to co-lead its stakeholder engagement, public involvement and communications activities.

On 7 March, EPND launched the next iteration of its Catalogue, a first-of-its kind, open, accessible database bringing together information about clinical cohorts researching neuro-degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy Bodies. The EPND Catalogue provides a single point of access for research discovery and collaboration, listing over 70 studies from 17 countries, covering 13 disease areas with 240,000+ research participants. Responding to feedback from researchers, cohorts and data scientists, up-dates to the EPND Catalogue enhance the visibility and dis-coverability of studies, offering new pathways for collaborative research and sharing of biosamples and data.

The design of the Catalogue has been updated to offer:

• improved search, filter and contact functions, with a streamlined interface that allows researchers to easily discover and connect with studies of interest.

• additional categories of information on study design, participants, datasets and biosample collections, their use/access conditions.

• a self-service, study administration dashboard allowing investigators to manage, update and edit their study listings with ease.

“This is a crucial advance in our mission to change the future of neurodegenerative diseases with new diagnostics and treatments” said Niranjan Bose, EPND Project Co-Leader. “Discovery is the first step towards data and sample sharing and our expanded Catalogue is forging new paths for collaborative research, with functionalities designed to support and connect researchers and study investigators."

Explore the EPND Catalogue, here: https://discover.epnd.org/catalogue/studies

To learn more about EPND, visit: https://epnd.org/