JPND Call 1. Identification of genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors for Neurogenerative Diseases

Objective

Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) Call 1 supports the research projects that will add value to existing research by identifying new genetic, epigenetic and environmental risk and protective factors associated with the following neurodegenerative disorders:

• Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias
• Parkinson’s disease and PD-related disorders
• Prion disease
• Motor neuron diseases
• Huntington’s disease
• Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA)
• Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

Proposals spanning different neurodegenerative disorders are encouraged, although proposals dealing with only one disease may be submitted.

Research should focus on genetic and epigenetic factors in relation to environmental factors.

Please see Annex I for the information about funded actions.  

Beneficiaries

Entities established in the countries of the funding organisations participating in this call (see Annex II) *

• universities (or other higher education institutions)
• non-university public research institutes
• hospitals and others health care setting
• commercial companies (in particular SME)

* Subjected to the individual administrative requirements of individual funding organisations

SPAIN:

Project Partners must be affiliated to CIBERNED or CIEN

• the Spanish Principal Investigator (PI) must be a staff senior researcher of have a documented relationship with CIBERNED or CIEN lasting at least until the end of the project
• other research team members of a Spanish partner must have a job contract with CIBERNED or CIEN or a documented relationship with CIBERNED or CIEN lasting at least until the end of the project
• Spanish researchers can only submit one project proposals as PI through this call

Eligibility Criteria

• A minimum of three and maximum of ten (3-10) funded research groups
• Each consortium must involve groups from at least three different countries of the funding organisations participating in this call (Annex II)
• Research groups from countries that are not partners in this JPND call may participate in projects if they are able to secure their own funding.

Funding and Eligible Costs

Subjected to the individual conditions of individual funding organisations

SPAIN:

One 3-year grant per fundable project partner:

• up to 200 000 € if the Spanish applicant is the project coordinator
• up to 100 000 € if the Spanish applicant is not the project coordinator

Eligible costs:

• Small equipment (up to 15 000 € of the Spanish fund per project)
• Consumables
• Subcontracting: up to 25% of the Spanish funds per project
• Travel and allowance (with a maximum cap of 10 000 €)
• Hiring technical manpower (other than core research team members; excluded: students, fellowships)
• Overheads: up to 20% of the Spanish national funds over the approved grant

Duration

Up to three years

Deadline

23:59 (CET) on March 19, 2013

Electronic submission only

Call Budget

Total funding: 19 M € (for all participating countries)

SPAIN: 0.4 M €. Up to 4 JPND transnational project Partners will be funded

Execution of the programme

The call will be conducted simultaneously by the funding organisations in their respective countries and coordinated centrally by the Joint Call Secretariat (JCS)

ANNEX I: Research funded within the call

Proposals submitted under this call may include, but are not limited to, the following types of research:

• Identification of underlying genetic variability in neurodegenerative diseases, using cutting edge technologies, e.g., exome and genome sequencing
• Regional and temporal mapping of the transcriptome, proteome and epigenome of the human brain as it related to aging and neurodegeneration
• Studies to explain phenotypic variability of the neurodegenerative process including the role of gender and the reasons for and the impact of the variable age of onset
• Unravelling the mechanisms by which (recently identified) risk genes contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases
• Understanding the interplay between genetic and environmental factors, for instance by developing new tools and approaches to identify and quantify environmental risk for neurodegenerative disease, and the effective integration of new genetic and molecular assessments e.g., with existing cohorts
• Identification of environmental and behavioural modulators of aging and neurodegeneration in order to ultimately determine protective and resilience factors. Such modulators may include, but are not limited to, nutrition, diet, caloric intake, physical activity, anthropometric and adiposity parameters, sleeps habits, social activities and social networks or interactions, intellectual activities, educational and professional attainments, leisure activities and other lifestyle factors.
• Identification of genetic factors that protect against the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Excluded from this call are clinical outcome of intervention trials as well as work entirely dedicated to high throughput sequencing to identify novel candidate genes.

Training of young researchers and mobility (e.g., researchers’ exchanges for students and postdoctoral researchers with the aim of learning new techniques in other laboratories) within the consortia are encouraged.

ANNEX II: JPND members participating in Call 1

COUNTRY	FUNDING ORGANISATION
Austria	Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research
Belgium	Research Foundation – Flanders region Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, Flanders region
Denmark	Danish Strategic Research Council
Finland	Academy of Finland
France	French National Research Agency
Germany	Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Israel	Chief Scientist Office, Ministry of Health
Italy	Ministry of Health Ministry of Education, Universities and Research
Luxembourg	National Research Fund
Netherlands	The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development
Norway	The Research Council of Norway
Poland	National Science Centre
Portugal	Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
Slovakia	Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic
Spain	National Institute of Health Carlos III
Sweden	Swedish Research Council (pending final approval)
Switzerland	Swiss National Science Foundation
Turkey	Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
United Kingdom	Medical Research Council

  

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