The annual meeting of the PREDICTOM (“Predictive Dementia Diagnostics and Treatment through Customisable Cognitive and Biomarker Screening”) project took place in Erlangen (Germany) on 30 September-1 October 2024. The meeting offered an opportunity for representatives from all 30 partner organisations, including academia, healthcare, industry, and non-profit sectors, to come together to discuss various work packages, address current challenges, and share progress made since the last annual consortium meeting in Stavanger, Norway. Among the key topics discussed over the two days, several stood out:
1. The presentation of the Triple IHI Initiative: Anna-Katherine Brem from King’s College London (UK) and Stavanger University Hospital (Norway) introduced this initiative, which aims to create synergies between the IHI-funded research projects: PREDICTOM, AD-RIDDLE, and PROMINENT, helping to avoid duplication of effort. These three projects collectively aim to transform healthcare by leveraging advanced diagnostics, personalised treatments, and comprehensive care strategies to address neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. Dianne Gove from Alzheimer Europe presented the organisation’s plans for Public Involvement (PI) activities, which we proudly lead in all three innovative projects. The PREDICTOM consortium meeting was joined online by Francesca Mangialasche, who discussed AD-RIDDLE, and Linus Jönsson, who presented PROMINENT, highlighting how their combined efforts can produce a more significant impact.
2. Interactive work package-specific poster workshop: During this session, work package partners sat down together in one room to reflect on project progress, assess deviations from the description of activities, evaluate risks and discuss how to mitigate them, and decide how to efficiently approach upcoming challenges. The workshop activity ended with a poster pitch presentation in the plenary and transitioned into a poster session where everyone could vote for their favourite poster. The poster on the PI contribution to the project, designed with artistic flair by Sarah Campill (pictured), was the clear winner of the competition. The Lygature team's creative idea certainly help kickstart many important conversations.
Within the consortium, Alzheimer Europe leads the work package named “Involve” which concerns the facilitation of PI and Ethics activities. Dianne Gove (Director for Public Involvement and Ethics) and Sarah Campill (Public Involvement Officer) joined the annual meeting on behalf of Alzheimer Europe. The PREDICTOM project has received funding from the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking, under Grant Agreement no. 101132356. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, COCIR, EFPIA, EuropaBio, MedTechEurope, and Vaccines Europe.