Abstract

CombiDiag DN aims to develop an AI-data-driven peripheral biomarker based combinatorial diagnostic protocol for early stages of Alzheimers disease (AD), a major form of dementia, and to train a new generation of fellows for this interdisciplinary field. Dementia, a devastating disease of older age, is the challenge of our lifetime and one of the Societal Challenges listed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Horizon Europe. CombiDiag responds to this challenge to establish a much-needed DN to carry out an integrated study of minimally invasive and cost-effective peripheral biomarkers, including body fluid markers from blood, urine and saliva, and digital markers from speech, motor functions and sleep for developing the combinatorial early AD diagnostics. The consortium comprises nine academic and eight non-academic institutions across Europe, USA, Canada, and China. It synergises leading academic and industrial experts worldwide to build a triple-i research and training platform for the training of a new generation of Fellows to take early AD diagnostic research to a new level. Fellows will be trained under the Vitae Researcher Development Framework innovatively combined with the CombiDiag platform for triple-i scientific and transferable skills as well as personal quality, creative thinking, and business mind-set. The DN has a highly innovative research programme for the discovery of peripheral AD biomarkers, detection techniques, AI/data driven technology, clinical validation, and integration into trial designs. The advances in CombiDiag research will enable a case finding tool at primary care level for helping achieve improved drug discoveries, disease-modifying treatments, preventive strategies and care provision for AD. CombiDiag will deliver 10 highly-skilled, creative and entrepreneurial Fellows, setting them on a path to successful careers in academia or industry to ensure that the medical and societal challenges imposed by AD are met.