Technical and/or research collaboration sought for the detection of genetic and biological markers of neurological diseases

Summary

An Italian multi-specialty clinical centre providing both inpatient and outpatient services mainly in the neurological field is interested in the study of neurodegeneration with the need to identify genetic and biological markers for the neurological diseases treated into the clinic. The clinical centre seeks universities, research centers and companies for collaboration under technical or research agreement.

Description

The Italian clinic is strongly interested and active in the study of neurodegeneration with the absolute need to identify genetic and biological markers (biomarkers) for the neurological diseases treated into the clinic.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect the nervous system at various levels causing progressive and irreversible deterioration of cognitive functions. Among these, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are the most common. During the course of the disease, patients develop increasing difficulties in carrying out daily activities and in relating, progressively losing their autonomy, with a significant impact on their families and caregivers.
The development of treatments together with the need to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for the onset of neurodegenerative phenomena are one of the greatest challenges scientific research seeks to respond to.
In particular, the clinical research focuses on the study of biomarkers, or biological indicators of the disease that can be found in body fluids, such as blood, saliva and urine.
Thanks to the availability of these biological samples, the identification of biomarkers would be an alternative and highly advantageous diagnostic approach compared to conventional methods, such as brain imaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analyzes, which are expensive, as well as invasive for the patient.
The Neurobiology Laboratory for translational medicine of the clinical centre carries out the characterization of biological samples through different biochemical and molecular methods, with the aim of identifying the degenerative mechanisms underlying the disease and any specific biomarker

The purpose is to identify new predictive biomarkers which will be validated according to the value they can bring in characterizing the expression of the disease. One of the most relevant field of application is early and/or pre-symptomatic diagnosis in order to monitor the progression of the disease and determine the prognosis. The development of biomarkers would allow a broader screening of the population at risk of the disease, informing about the prognosis, facilitating a more correct enrollment of patients in clinical trials, constituting a tool for the evaluation of more specific drug treatments.

The ambition is to:
• Promote basic scientific research for the detection of etiopathogenetic mechanisms related to specific diseases;
• Promote the collection of samples belonging to individuals / populations with peculiar characteristics for which it can be assumed a particular genetic predisposition or susceptibility to environmental factors to a greater risk of certain diseases;
• Make available for clinical pharmacology (pharmacogenetics to farmacoproteomica) samples for the study of nucleotide and amino acid sequence variants associated with different responses to drug therapy;
• Offer a service to biomedical research for the development of research lines intra and inter-institutional national and international.

The clinical centre seeks universities, research centers and companies for collaboration under technical or research agreement:
- universities and research centres aiming to design & test novel more personalized interventions & patient-centred therapies for neurological chronic diseases;
- clinical centres networking to extend cohorts in neurological diseases and integrating their own biobanks.
- companies providing services for analysing genomic data.

Expertise sought

Given the focus on translational and clinical research, the clinic is collecting biological samples from neurological patients in order to provide further significant contribution to medical research in neurological disorders.


Partnership with various research centres /universities in order to promote genetic and biomarker studies, create a biobanks network for the collection of data belongings to individuals/populations at risks of neurological diseases, and smes providing genomic data and analysis tools.

Stage of Development

Concept stage

Requested Partner

Technical and/or research agreements:
- Universities and Research Centres aiming to design & test novel more personalized interventions & patient-centred therapies for neurological chronic diseases.
- Clinical centres networking to extend cohorts in neurological diseases and integrating their own biobanks.
- Companies providing services for analysing genomic data.