European Alzheimer Academy Workshop

European Alzheimer Academy Workshop

Bertinoro, Italy • 1-5 March 2020

Bertinoro, Italy
1-5 March 2020

Postponed due to COVID-19 situation
New dates to be announced

Postponed due to COVID-19 situation
New dates
to be announced

Preliminary Programme

  • Sunday, 1 March

    17:00-19:30

    Arrival and registration

    19:30-19:45

    Welcome word
    Géraldine Drexel De Buchy (Chief Executive Officer FVA)

    19:45

    Drinks and buffet

  • Monday, 2 March

    What is AD? What causes AD?

    Morning session chair: Frédéric Checler (Valbonne, France)

    8:00-8:20

    Opening of the Workshop
    Robyn Koster (European Grant manager AFI-AN-FVA)

    8:20-8:55

    Manuela Neumann (Tübingen, Germany)
    Neuropathology of dementias
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    8:55-9:30

    Luc Buée (Lille, France)
    Which tau species for spreading and seeding among tauopathies
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    9:30-10:05

    Florence Pasquier (Lille, France)
    Neuropsychological diagnosis/clinical symptoms
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    10:05-10:25

    Discussion: Common denominators and specificities of proteinopathies and dementia

    10:25-10:45

    Coffee break

    10:45-11:20

    Milos Pekny (Gothenburg, Sweden)
    Neuro-immunological aspects of neurodegeneration
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    11:20-12:20

    Peter St George-Hyslop (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
    The role of physiological and pathological biological condensates formed by intrinsically disordered proteins in neurodegenerative diseases
    [50 min + 10 min discussion]

    12:20-12:50

    Harry Steinbusch (Maastricht, The Netherlands)
    Introduction to Grant Writing assignment
    [20 min + 10 min discussion]

    12:50-14:00

    Lunch

    14:00-15:20

    Parallel sessions: student Pecha Kuchas
    [6 min per student]

    15:20-22:30

    Social activity and dinner

  • Tuesday, 3 March

    What is new in AD concepts?  How can we study/model AD?

    Morning session chair: Paul Lucassen (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

    8:00-8:45

    Harry Steinbusch (Maastricht, The Netherlands)
    AD models – critical review
    [30 min + 5 min discussion + 10 min debate group 6]

    8:45-9:30

    Henrietta Nielsen (Stockholm, Sweden / Roskilde, Denmark)
    Creating a human neurodegenerative disease in non-humans
    [30 min + 5 min discussion + 10 min debate group 5]

    9:30-10:15

    Elly Hol (Utrecht, The Netherlands)
    Human post-mortem brain tissue and cerebral organoids to study glia in Alzheimer
    [30 min + 5 min discussion + 10 min debate group 4]

    10:15-10:35

    Coffee break

    10:35-11:10

    Anne-Laurence Boutillier (Strasbourg, France)
    Epigenetics and dementia
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    11:10-11:50

    Marie-Christine Chartier-Harlin (Lille, France)
    Florence Pasquier (Lille, France)
    Interactive session: Alzheimer’s disease and related (?) diseases
    [40 min]

    11:50-12:25

    Wiesje van der Flier (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
    A changing diagnostic paradigm of Alzheimer’s disease; role of imaging and biomarkers
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    12:25-13:50

    Lunch

    Afternoon session chair: Harry Steinbusch (Maastricht, The Netherlands)

    13:50-14:20

    Robyn Koster (European Grant manager AFI-AN-FVA)
    European Network and organisations
    [15 min]

    Harry Steinbusch (Maastricht, The Netherlands)
    Grant Cycle review procedures. Tips & Tricks to write a good grant
    [15 min]

    14:20-19:00

    Work on assignment in groups
    [coffee break at 16:00]

    19:00-21:30

    Dinner (canteen)

    21:30-22:30

    Stephan Schilling (Halle, Germany)
    Developing therapies for Alzheimer’s disease; hoops and hurdles from a biotech company perspective)
    [50 min + 10 min discussionn]

  • Wednesday, 4 March

    How do we develop new treatments and drugs for AD? And why do so many trials fail?

    Morning session chair: Marie-Christine Chartier-Harlin (Lille, France)

    8:00-8:45

    Paul Lucassen (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
    Lifestyle factors and dementia – general introduction
    [30 min + 5 min discussion + 10 min debate group 3]

    8:45-9:30

    Julien Chapuis (Lille, France)
    High-throughput approached to decipher genetic component of Alzheimer’s disease
    [30 min + 5 min discussion + 10 min debate group 2]

    9:30-10:15

    Sheela Vyas (Paris, France)
    Gender in etiopathology of Alzheimer’s disease
    [30 min + 5 min discussion + 10 min debate group 1]

    10:15-10:35

    Coffee break

    10:35-11:10

    Annerieke Sierksma (Leuven, Belgium)
    Alzheimer risk genes drive the microglial response to amyloid-beta, not TAU, pathology
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    11:10-11:45

    Frédéric Checler (Valbonne, France)
    Amyloid cascade: obsolete or poorly understood?
    [30 min + 5 min discussion]

    11:45-12:10

    Discussion: Amyloid and the aetiology of Alzheimer’s Disease

    12:10-12:30

    Q&A session on grant writing assessment
    [20 min]

    12:30-13:50

    Lunch

    13:50-19:00

    Work in groups on assignments
    [coffee break at 16:00]

    19:00-21:30

    Pizza Party

  • Thursday, 5 March

    9:00-12:30

    Student presentations of grant proposals
    Reviewers:
    Elly Hol (Utrecht, The Netherlands)
    Luc Buée (Lille, France)
    Frédéric Checler (Valbonne, France)
    Paul Lucassen (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
    Harry Steinbusch (Maastricht, The Netherlands)
    Thomas Arendt (Leipzig, Germany)
    Marie-Christine Chartier-Harlin (Lille, France)
    Annerieke Sierksma (Leuven, Belgium)

    9:00-9:30

    Presentation group 1: Predictive Biomarkers (blood-based, imaging, etc)
    [15 min + 10 min discussion]

    9:30-10:00

    Presentation group 2: Evidence-based preventions/risk-lowering practices
    [15 min + 10 min discussion]

    10:00-10:30

    Presentation group 3: Inflammation and neuro-immunology
    [15 min + 10 min discussion]

    10:30-10:50

    Coffee break

    10:50-11:20

    Presentation group 4: Protein aggregation, seeding and spreading
    [15 min + 10 min discussion]

    11:20-11:50

    Presentation group 5: Vascular contributions
    [15 min + 10 min discussion]

    11:50-12:20

    Presentation group 6: Synaptic Biology and Neuroplasticity
    [15 min + 10 min discussion]

    12:20-12:50

    Feedback from reviewers and students

    12:50-13:05

    Award Ceremony and Closure of the Workshop

    13:05

    Lunch (boxes provided)