Welcome
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
We enter the summer holidays with gathering optimism and pride regarding the success of EPAD. Catalysed by a fantastic and regal meeting in Stockholm, we have turned the corner in setting up new sites over recent weeks which will inevitably lead to a dramatic increase in recruitment to the cohort. BBRC recruited their 100th research participant and in Edinburgh we are well into our annual follow up of the early recruits.
We were also buoyed by the news that Boeringher Ingelheim are poised to commit a compound into the PoC for 2018 and the PoC protocol has been completed on schedule. While the recruitment into LCS and the finalising of the PoC protocol are fantastic achievements, in some ways they are the core of the project and should be seen as delivering on the business of EPAD. Reflecting on that - for me - the biggest innovation and real excitement is the launch of the EPAD Academy under the leadership of Miia and Carlos. Already we have well over 20 EPAD Fellows signed up and much work is being put in place to frame The EPAD Academy around their needs. The nurturing of the future academics and thought leaders in this space would be a privilege for EPAD to contribute to. The EPAD Academy will also be working hard in coming weeks to really drill down on our data, sample and research participant access processes. The data is flooding in and as we gather more data we gather more internal and external excitement towards analysis and academic output. It is critical that we manage this database so we derive not only the largest amount of scientific output but the greatest quality too - only then will we see the necessary impact .
The other big news is the partnerships being developed and formed with the IMI-2 AMYPAD Project and while the work on bringing these two huge projects into scientific and operational alignment is daunting at times - this is work that will yield a fantastic step change in our understanding of the role of PET-Amyloid Imaging in disease modelling as well as clinical use.
I truly hope you all have brilliant, well-earned breaks over summer and return invigorated for the challenges and prepared for the successes that EPAD will bring through to the end of 2017.
This electronic newsletter will be published quarterly and be accessible via the EPAD website (https://alzheimer.noemi.lu/) and inform the Alzheimer’s community on EPAD’s main achievements, upcoming events as well as allow you to meet the scientists who make it all happen.
We hope you enjoy this issue of the EPAD newsletter! Happy Reading!
Craig Ritchie
EPAD Co-Coordinator
