Team Grant - NEURON (2019)

The 'Network of European Funding for Neuroscience Research' (NEURON) was established under the ERA-NET scheme of the European Commission. The aim of ERA-NET NEURON is to coordinate and optimize research efforts and funding programmes of its partner countries in the fields of disease related neuroscience.

Under the umbrella of NEURON, a joint transnational call (JTC2019) has been launched for biomarkers in disorders of the brain. For afflicted patients, a correct diagnosis and individualized treatment without severe side effects are of crucial importance. Despite impressive improvement on our knowledge of brain function, valid and reliable biomarkers for clinical and research use in the field of brain diseases are still urgently needed. Brain disease biomarkers candidates are continuously identified and published by academic research groups. However, the rigorous validation of those promising candidates as research or clinical tools is seriously hindered by the frequent use of poorly standardized practices.

CIHR and the NEURON funding organizations particularly wish to promote multi-disciplinary work and translational research proposals that combine basic and clinical approaches. In the context of the present call, the inclusion of psychiatrists and/or neurologists in the proposed teams is highly encouraged, along with fundamental neuroscientists. The teams are expected to submit novel, ambitious ideas that can only be achieved by the complementary collaboration between partners.

Research Areas

Research proposals should cover at least one of the following areas:

• Fundamental research addressing the discovery and validation of biomarkers to be used as bio-signatures of the pathophysiology associated to specific neurological and psychiatric diseases
• Clinical research on clinically relevant biomarkers for the diagnosis, patient stratification, prognosis or monitoring or prediction of treatment response and side effects for specific neurological and psychiatric diseases

For more information please consult the ERA-NET NEURON website.