Brussels Universities and University Hospitals Join Forces for Groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Research

The three-year research and development project, called Translate-AD, aims to facilitate safer and more efficient data sharing to better understand Alzheimer’s disease. This will enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis and treatment in the future. The researchers have received €2.8 million in funding from Innoviris, the Brussels agency for research and innovation.

In Belgium, approximately 200,000 people are estimated to suffer from dementia, with about 6% being under the age of 65. The most common cause is Alzheimer’s disease, responsible for 70% of all dementia cases in the region. Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of death in Belgium. The disease leads to the loss of certain brain cells and the breakdown of connections between them, resulting in memory loss and other cognitive impairments. Many questions about the origins of the disease remain unanswered, partly due to privacy regulations that hinder the exchange of patient data for collaborative scientific research.

To address this need, the researchers in the Translate-AD project will develop a digital platform to facilitate the exchange of expertise and patient data between university hospitals. This platform will enable the identification of biomarkers—"fingerprints" of diseases that predict whether a person has or will develop a disease. The project will improve diagnostics and prognostics, a milestone in the treatment of a disease with an unpredictable course. Additionally, a better understanding of the disease will undoubtedly lead to new treatment options.

Closer and Better Collaboration for Faster Diagnosis

The platform will allow researchers to collaboratively solve even the most complex research questions without requiring patient data to be shared. A research query is translated into a script, which is then sent from a central research computer to local hospital servers. All data analyses are conducted on these local servers, where the anonymized patient data is stored. The results of the analyses are then sent back to the central research computer. This approach simplifies research collaboration while fully respecting privacy regulations.

“Our three Brussels memory clinics are all recognized by the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium (EADC) as European reference centers for scientific research, diagnosis, and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. We already enjoy working together on Alzheimer’s research as the three institutions have highly complementary expertise. This project will allow us to exchange information and expertise more quickly and efficiently, building a shared research cohort that will be unique due to the combination of data. This will provide a significant boost to Alzheimer’s research in Brussels and undoubtedly lead to new insights into the origins of Alzheimer’s disease, enabling better diagnosis and treatment for those who have the disease or are at higher risk of developing symptoms later,” explains VUB Prof. Dr. Sebastiaan Engelborghs, research coordinator and head of Neurology at UZ Brussel.

“The platform is also important as more drugs are emerging that can slow Alzheimer’s disease. With the digital centralization of biomarkers, we will be able to identify at an early stage which patients will benefit from specific treatments,” adds VUB researcher Dr. Ir. Jorne Laton, operational coordinator of the project.

ULB is also enthusiastic about participating in this innovative project through its neuroscience institute, UNI. “We are providing two pieces of cutting-edge equipment: magnetoencephalography (MEG), unique in Belgium, and PET-MRI. These neuroimaging devices will give research teams access to a unique combination of molecular, functional, and structural brain imaging to characterize all brain changes caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Our teams will also share their expertise in researching sleep and its disorders, an aspect that has been relatively neglected so far,” explains Professor Xavier De Tiège, director of the Translational Laboratory for Neuroanatomy and Neuroimaging at the ULB Neuroscience Institute.

A Shared Database for Early Detection

The research management at H.U.B. adds: “The Translate-AD consortium aims to create a shared database of highly characterized patients. These standardized clinical data, organized using the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) model, will enable the use of artificial intelligence to identify key markers for diagnosing and predicting Alzheimer’s disease at an early stage. Hôpital Erasme is responsible for the standardization phase of the clinical databases of each hospital using the common data model (OMOP),” says Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jonathan Cimino, Clinical Director of Research at H.U.B.

“Translate-AD is an ambitious Brussels initiative against Alzheimer’s disease to make clinical data securely available to researchers and to simplify research to serve patients!” says Bernard Hanseeuw, Professor of Neurosciences at UCLouvain and President of the Belgian Neurological Society.

“The Translate-AD project enhances internal collaboration between UCLouvain researchers, clinicians, and data analysts from the medical informatics department at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc. This dynamic also fosters interoperability, facilitating data exchange with other national or international institutions. Since 2020, Saint-Luc’s medical informatics department has been digitizing and structuring medical data by integrating natural language processing techniques and key terminologies (SNOMED CT, LOINC, Orphanet) into electronic health record processes. This approach supports an innovative ecosystem where medical data can be used in a 'federated' model. In this model, 'research comes to the data' rather than the traditional approach of 'data going to the researchers,'” concludes Marianne Philippe, Deputy Chief Medical Information Officer at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc.

Data Protection as a Priority

The researchers emphasize that patient data will always remain well-protected. Advanced AI techniques will secure the data, ensuring that only authorized researchers have access. Additionally, regular meetings will be held with patients participating in the research to update them on results and the progress of the study, keeping them informed about how their data is used.

One of the Largest Research Projects Supported by Innoviris

Translate-AD is funded by the Brussels-Capital Region through Innoviris, with a budget of €2.8 million. “This project fits perfectly within the Regional Innovation Plan, where health is a key strategic domain. Health research is a strength of Brussels, and this project has the potential to revolutionize the diagnosis, treatment, and care of vulnerable Alzheimer’s patients. We are particularly pleased that this project involves collaboration between Brussels’ three largest universities and university hospitals, further strengthening the local health ecosystem,” says Stefaan Sonck Thiebaut, Director General at Innoviris.

Ambitious Plans Beyond Borders

Although the platform is initially focused on Alzheimer’s patients in Brussels, the researchers plan to expand to other Belgian and international centers in the long term. This would create a platform applicable to research into other (rare) diseases and collaborations across borders.

© UZ Brussel - VUB

More info

https://www.uzbrusselfoundation.be/nl/nl-onzeprojecten/dementie  

Contact  

Els Wauters
​Perscontact Faculteit Geneeskunde en Farmacie Vrije Universiteit Brussel  
​els.wauters@vub.be  
​0490 52 25 21  

Karolien De Prez
​Woordvoerster UZ Brussel 
​karolien.deprez@uzbrussel.be
​0497 83 63 55