JARA-BRAIN: Investigating Psychological and Neurological Diseases
With JARA-BRAIN, new strategies shall be developed for the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of psychogenic and neurological cerebral diseases by closely interlinking basic research, clinical research and technological-methodological competences.
Background
Psychogenic and neurological diseases of the brain have - besides the impact on the persons concerned and on relatives - great influence on health care policy, costs and social systems. The number of diseases will be increasing even more than before due to the demographic development.
Goals
With JARA-BRAIN, new strategies shall be developed for the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of psychogenic and neurological cerebral diseases by closely interlinking basic research, clinical research and technological-methodological competences. This will generate new research areas and qualifications ("clinician scientists").
The aim is to establish a quick translation of research findings into clinical tests and, where applicable, application and definition of preventive measures. The translational centre for brain diseases deals - among others - with predicators ("biomarkers") for psychogenic and neurological diseases by imaging and neurophysiological testing (MRT, PET, MEG), as well as to find genetic characteristics for the specification of individual disease risks and individual course of disease.
Furthermore, the employment of technical systems (e.g. "cerebral pacemaker") shall be accelerated and the utilisation of technological innovations in imaging and translation into clinical applications shall be promoted. Focal areas area neurodegenerative diseases (Dementia, Parkinson, Alzheimer), schizophrenia and affective diseases, as well as development impairments. Here, the focus is on three time frames: upper age, third decade of the life-cycle and youth and infantile ages.
The Partners
JARA-BRAIN consolidates the existing collaboration between numerous projects between the RWTH faculties of engineering, physics, informatics and medicine on the one hand and corresponding institutes at the Research Centre Jülich on the other. One of the three foci of medicine at RWTH Aachen University is "Clinical Neurosciences". The Research Centre Jülich has also defined "health research" and disposes of unique equipment (imaging systems, research bed ward, 9,4 T-MR-PET-Hybrid Systems currently under way).
Founding members of JARA-BRAIN are 20 clinics and institutes of RWTH Aachen University and all neuroscientific institutes of the Research Centre Jülich.