Top-ranked research substantially funded: Srdjan Djurovic supported by the Top Researchers program
Srdjan Djurovic recieves 40 millioner NOK from the Top Researchers program (Toppforsk) hosted by The Research Council of Norway to find out if it is possible to predict Alzheimer disease at an early stage. The supported project is entitled "Multimodal metabolic markers for mechanisms and predictive trajectories of Alzheimer's disease".
This disease starts long before the symptoms appear, often several decades earlier. Djurovic and his research group will “go back in time” and analyze blood samples from people in their 40s and 50s to find hereditary metabolic markers that can warn of risk.
By combining such early traces with brain scans, genetics and machine learning, the researchers will develop a personal “Alzheimer’s avatar” that can predict when the disease may occur for each individual. This could open the door to preventive treatment – and perhaps delay the onset of the disease for future generations.
Links:
From the University of Oslo (in Norwegian):
UiO-forskarar skal utvikle «Alzheimer-avatar» for å føresjå sjukdomen (uniforum.uio.no)
From the Norwegian Research Council (in Norwegian):
374 millionar kroner til banebrytande forskarar (forskningsradet.no)
The 374 million NOK is divided into three calls for proposals with different objectives. This is the first time that funds have been awarded to top researchers and radical research ideas. The aim is to strengthen efforts in bold research based on the researchers' own professional curiosity.
160 million kroner goes to four top researcher projects with the goal of developing world-leading research environments. Each project receives 40 million kroner and requires collaboration between two or more leading researchers.
The "Multimodal metabolic markers for mechanisms and predictive trajectories of Alzheimer's disease" project, headed by Srdjan Djurovic, is one of these four projects.
Home page of Srdjan Djurovic's research group:
Psychiatric Molecular Genetics Group