P4‐038: CREATION OF THE CANADIAN CONSORTIUM FOR NEURODEGENERATION IN AGING (2014)

The G8 summit issued a call for developed countries to mobilize to reduce the expected burden of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Canadian Consortium for Neurodegeneration in Aging is a newly created research structure supported by the Canadian government through the CIHR (Canadian Institutes for Health Research). This initiative brings together 340 Canadian researchers focused on basic and clinical research on AD as well as other neurodegenerative disorders. Our mission is to create teams that will do transformative research, advancing our understanding of the biology, natural history, clinical presentation and management of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases (NDD). Simultaneously, national platforms and teams are to be established. We will focus on studies across the neurodegenerative diseases - AD, Frontotemporal Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, as well as vascular/mixed dementia. We will focus on early states of subjective complaints, mild cognitive impairment, and mild dementia in these conditions. CCNA will create a national cohort of 1,600 such individuals. We will institute shared clinical and neuropsychological assessment tools, neuropathology protocols, imaging protocols, database and national data management system, and clinical trials designs across the country. We will collect imaging, genetic, and biomarker data on all our subjects that will be directly designed to catalyse team projects and advance their scientific hypotheses. We will particularly focus on mixed pathology individuals, with the supposition that much is to be learned by including the most usual state of mixed rather than pure pathologies. A set of 20 national research teams will work with these cohorts, focusing on basic science studies of different disease mechanisms, development of new therapies, and development of a better nosology for heterogeneous conditions. In addition, a further set of teams will focus on “quality of life” issues where interventions can be developed with immediate benefit for patients with NDD. There is a five-year course for initial funding of this national venture. Success metrics will be based on successful accrual of clinical cohorts and establishment of the platforms to catalyze both clinical and basic research in Canada, and facilitate international collaboration as well. The success of national teams will be reflected in major new contributions both to basic understanding of the NDD, development of new therapies, and pragmatic contributions to improved quality of life of our patients. The collaborative framework of the CCNA is expected to significantly increase high-impact pluridisciplinary research and productivity in the field of cognitive decline and AD in Canada. Our approach will ensure that collaborations are optimized and progress is accelerated as clinical assessments, imaging protocols, biobanking protocols for blood /CSF samples, brain banking, and biomarkers are coordinated, shared and made available for the broadest use. As a single national network there will be benefits of being able to move quickly and nimbly to advance promising collaborations. We will catalyse development of new molecules and therapies, which can be tested in appropriate clinical cohorts within the CCNA, using innovative designs and evaluative measures, to lead to new treatments and approaches to prevent the disease through delaying its onset.