On 16-18 October, the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s dementia (EPAD) project organised its first IMI-AD Platform Disease Modelling Workshop in Edinburgh, UK. The aim of the meeting was to bring together the modelling community within IMI funded projects to facilitate and encourage interactions between the overlapping communities.

On the first day, the chair of the workshop Graciela Muniz-Terrera (University of Edinburgh) welcomed the attendees. The event gathered 20 participants from several IMI projects (AMYPAD, EPAD, ROADMAP and AETIONOMY). The workshop consisted of three sessions divided by area: clinical perspective, drug discovery and systems/molecular biology.

The workshop gave the opportunity to the majority of the attendees to present their research topics throughout the three sessions. Attendees working on the different knowledge areas briefly introduced their models and the challenges they encounter when working on them, which inspired discussions amongst methodologists who had used different quantitative approaches in the area. One of the most discussed and challenging topic was data storage, data access and data sharing.

The last day concluded the workshop with a wrap up and definition of plans for the future, among which it is worth mentioning the creation of a cross-IMI Alzheimer’s Disease modelling working group with the aim of creating synergies between this group of experts and their IMI-founded projects.