Page 96 - MaquetaFundCIEN-2019-ENG

96
Annual Report 2019
5.3.
Centers of Excellence
in Neurodegeneration (CoEN)
A major obstacle to the advancement of research on neurodegenerative diseases is the relative lack of common standards and mechanisms for validation of po- tentially relevant results in preclinical studies, and clinical studies based on popu- lation. One approach to deal with these challenges on a large scale is through a more effective use of large centers and institutes, where there is already the nec- essary critical mass of resources and expertise. Increased collaboration between national centers of excellence should also provide the opportunity to accelerate progress in understanding the basic mechanisms of disease, and the identifica- tion of new therapeutic approaches.
To this end, on June 10, 2010, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE, Germany) and the Med- ical Research Council (MRC, UK) launched a funding initiative to establish a col- laborative approach to research in neurodegenerative diseases, called “Centers of Excellence in Neurodegeneration (COEN)”. These founding members were later joined by other European institutions and thus, in December 2011 the COEN mem- bership application by CIBERNED-CIEN Foundation was approved, recognizing the scientific excellence in both basic and clinical science of the institution which be- came part of the COEN Oversight Group.
In 2012, CIBERNED and CIEN Foundation joined this Committee to participate ac- tively in the design of the future COEN scientific strategy. Both institutions are rep- resented by Dr. Miguel Medina, CIBERNED Deputy Scientific Director and member of the CIEN Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. During 2015 the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) has also been acknowledged as a new COEN member.