Four years ago, colleagues from the Charles University (Martin Vyhnálek and Kateřina Veverová) and the University of Oslo (UiO) (Evandro Fang) secured a competitive grant of € 1 404 000 on the project entitled ‘The Validation of specific mitophagy biomarkers across Alzheimer’s disease continuum’ (acronym MIT-AD), from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the KAPPA Programme.

On 11 April 2024, in the old university campus of Charles University (founded 1348), a one-day meeting entitled “From Mitophagy to Neurocognitive Impairment“ was organized. This meeting aimed to share the exciting research data the MIT-AD team generated as well as to have leading experts in the fields to share their works to the community.

Highlights of some of the topics:

NO-Age international member, keynote speaker Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis shared the mechanisms of compromised mitochondrial homeostasis in ageing and dementia! Prof. Martin Vyhnálek and Dr. Kateřina Veverová reported the results of changes of a few mitophagy proteins in blood and CSF samples from AD patients; the paper was just accepted in a leading journal, with news release shortly. Prof. Evandro Fang presented a talk entitled ‘The ‘5As’: ageing, Alzheimer’s disease, autophagy, AI, and an ‘A’ molecule in brain health and longevity’. DPhil student Johannes Frank (UiO) talked on a novel cellular death pathway in Alzheimer’s disease. Young researcher Dr. Sofie Hindkjær Lautup showed the use of AI in identifying unknown causes of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Davide D’Amico gave a talk on ‘Health benefits of the mitophagy activator Urolithin A – From preclinical models to clinical studies’.

In the afternoon block, Dr. Giovanni Bellomo presented the latest discoveries of biofluid biomarkers in AD. Also, Dasa Bohaciakova (Dolezalova) demonstrated us the potential of brain organoids in AD research.

Additionally, a clinical team from the Czech Brain Aging Study presented the results of their long-time collaboration. Prof. Jakub Hort, the PI from the Prague site, shared recent findings on the pharmacological treatment of AD. Dr. Katerina Sheardova, the PI from the Brno site, demonstrated the significant role of nonpharmacological interventions in AD prevention. Prof. Jan Laczó presented fascinating findings on spatial navigation, while Dr. Hana Horáková (Marková) illustrated the complexity of neuropsychological assessment.

Finally, Šárka Kovandová shared the recent Alzheimer nadační fond projects with us. This initiative not only aids professionals in comprehending AD but also provides invaluable support to patients and their caregivers.

More details of the meeting and the MIT-AD team: Charles University website and MIT-AD website.

See pictures of the event below (copy right of the Photos: Charles University).