Cardiovascular stress impacts on neuronal function: intracellular pathways to cognitive impairment

Coordinator: Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

Partners:

• Angel Ois, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain
• Attila Gürsoy and Ozlem Keskin, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
• Raúl Vicente, University of Tartu, Estonia
• Stanley Nattel, Montreal Heart Institute, Canada

Project summary:
Cardiovascular disease is a known risk factor for the development of cognitive impairment and dementia as we age, but the reasons for this connection at the level of genes and proteins are still unclear. The goal of CardioStressCI is to identify proteins linked to both disorders, using cellular stress as a guide, with the ultimate goal of informing new diagnostic and treatment methods.

ENRICH

ENdothelial Retinal function as Indicator for vascular Cognitive Health

Coordinator: Ingeborg Stalmans, Research Group of Ophthalmology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Partners:

• Moti Freiman, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Haifa, Israel
• Hélène Girouard, Montreal Heart Institute: Research Centre, Department of Surgery, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
• Cécile Duplaa, Inserm U1034, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
• Henner Hanssen, Department Sport, Exercise and Health (DSBG), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Project summary:
Microvascular dysfunction is a key player in cardiovascular diseases and precedes vascular dementia. This project aims to explore the potential of retinal parameters to detect and monitor microvascular dysfunction in the clinic as well as in the laboratory, making use of Artificial Intelligence. The final goal is to correlate these with cognitive decline in order to enable prevention of vascular neurodegeneration through early vascular screening via a simple exam of the eye.

ImmuneHyperCog

Cerebrovascular-immune interfaces: searching for an immune signature coupling hypertension to cognitive dysfunction

Coordinator: Giuseppe Lembo, IRCCS Neuromed, Italy

Partners:

• Pablo Blinder, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
• Turgay Dalkara, Hacettepe University, Turkey
• Tomasz Guzik, Jagiellonian University, Poland
• Slava Epelman, University Health Network, Canada

Project summary:
The ImmuneHyperCog consortium will investigate i) the mechanisms driving vascular cognitive impairment at the vascular-immune interface, ii) the immune landscape of the hypertensive brain and iii) the relationships between brain immunity and neuronal activity. Human studies and biobanks’ tissue will help in validating potential neuro-vascular-immune therapeutic targets to hamper vascular cognitive impairment.

PREVENT-VCI

Prevention of Vascular Cognitive Impairment through Early Detection of Cardiovascular Diseases

Coordinator: Philippe Boucher, UMR CNRS 7021, Strasbourg University, France

Partners:

• Katey J Rayner, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada
• Lina Badimon Maestro, Research Institute Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau-Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

Project summary:
Atherosclerosis and hypercholesterolemia and subsequent inflammation and oxidative stress are major causes of vascular cognitive impairment. In this proposal, our team will investigate how intracellular cholesterol trafficking, oxidative stress and inflammation, promote blood-brain barrier breakdown and affect cerebral blood flow, and search within these pathways for molecular targets with therapeutic potential to improve cerebrovascular function.

The ERA-CVD Joint Transnational Call 2020 (JTC2020) for cardiovascular research projects is open. 14 Funding Agencies participate in this 5th ERA-CVD call with a budget of approximate 7 Mio Euro.

The aim of ERA-CVD is to foster new, as well as extend existing, transnational cooperation of European countries, and to coordinate research efforts and funding programmes of its partner countries.

Under the umbrella of ERA-CVD JTC2020 is now launched to promote transnational research projects focusing on “Prevention of Vascular Cognitive Impairment through Early Detection of Cardiovascular Diseases”.

The deadline for proposals of this call is April 2nd at 17:00 (CET) and there will be a one stage evaluation process. Please find all necessary documents in the download section on the right.

Applicants are encourage to make themselves familiar with the full data management plan (DMP) template already and well ahead of submission, also the respective document is available as download on this page.

JTC2020 applicants can register in the ERA-CVD partnering tool