NETWORKING
Our bonds define us
We create synergies with researchers, projects and entities because collaborating and sharing knowledge with others is essential for scientific progress
CaixaResearch
CaixaResearch supports excellent research in health and biomedicine carried out by researchers and physicians in Spain and Portugal, stimulating innovation and the transfer of knowledge in new treatments and solutions for patients.
Alexander Project
A direct precedent of Astromad
Alexander Project
We develop our research in close collaboration with the Alexander project (European Joint Program for Rare Diseases), which aims to understand the pathogenesis of Alexander Disease. This project will elucidate the effects of Alexander Disease astrocytes on neurons, and their role in other aspects of the pathogenesis using a range of experimental systems and approaches. The experimental strategies will include the use of induced pluripotent stem cells from Alexander Disease patients derived to astrocytes, neurons, and other glial cell types as well as the generation of brain organoids. Moreover, an Alexander Disease killifish model will be generated. Through the development of these new experimental models, this project could help to understand other diseases with the maladaptive responses of reactive astrocytes as the core underlying mechanism.
ALEXANDER consortium partners have complementary expertise, and unique technologies to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms leading to the Alexander Disease pathology and to design future treatment strategies. They will test compounds previously identified by the consortium partners as modulators of astrocyte activation, for their ability to reduce the detrimental activation of Alexander Disease astrocytes.
Partners
- PI: Elly Hol (coordinator)
- Department of Translational Neuroscience
Brain Center UMC, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Find out more here and here.
University of Gothenburg
- PI: Milos Pekny
- Laboratory of Astrocyte Biology and CNS Regeneration
Center for Brain Repair
Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology
Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Find out more here.
Institute of Biotechnology CAS
- PI: Mikael Kubista
- Department of Gene Expression, Institute of Biotechnology CAS. Vestec, Czech Republic. Find out more here.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- PI: Itamar Harel
- Department of Genetics
Silberman Institute of Life Sciences
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel. Find out more here and here.
Lund University
- PI: Henrik Ahlenius
- Stem Cell Center
Faculty of Medicine
Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Find out more here.
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
- PI: Dolores Pérez-Sala
- Department of Structural and Chemical Biology
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, CSIC, Madrid, Spain. Find out more here.
ELA International (societal partner)
- European Leukodystrophy Association ELA International – GEIE Luxembourg. Find out more here.
Patient Association VKS/Patiëntenvereniging VKS (societal partner)
CaixaResearch
CaixaResearch supports excellent research in health and biomedicine carried out by researchers and physicians in Spain and Portugal, stimulating innovation and the transfer of knowledge in new treatments and solutions for patients.
Alexander Project
A direct precedent of Astromad
Alexander Project
We develop our research in close collaboration with the Alexander project (European Joint Program for Rare Diseases), which aims to understand the pathogenesis of Alexander Disease. This project will elucidate the effects of Alexander Disease astrocytes on neurons, and their role in other aspects of the pathogenesis using a range of experimental systems and approaches. The experimental strategies will include the use of induced pluripotent stem cells from Alexander Disease patients derived to astrocytes, neurons, and other glial cell types as well as the generation of brain organoids. Moreover, an Alexander Disease killifish model will be generated. Through the development of these new experimental models, this project could help to understand other diseases with the maladaptive responses of reactive astrocytes as the core underlying mechanism.
ALEXANDER consortium partners have complementary expertise, and unique technologies to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms leading to the Alexander Disease pathology and to design future treatment strategies. They will test compounds previously identified by the consortium partners as modulators of astrocyte activation, for their ability to reduce the detrimental activation of Alexander Disease astrocytes.
Partners
- PI: Elly Hol (coordinator)
- Department of Translational Neuroscience
Brain Center UMC, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Find out more here and here.
University of Gothenburg
- PI: Milos Pekny
- Laboratory of Astrocyte Biology and CNS Regeneration
Center for Brain Repair
Department of Clinical Neuroscience
Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology
Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Find out more here.
Institute of Biotechnology CAS
- PI: Mikael Kubista
- Department of Gene Expression, Institute of Biotechnology CAS. Vestec, Czech Republic. Find out more here.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- PI: Itamar Harel
- Department of Genetics
Silberman Institute of Life Sciences
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, Israel. Find out more here and here.
Lund University
- PI: Henrik Ahlenius
- Stem Cell Center
Faculty of Medicine
Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Find out more here.
Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
- PI: Dolores Pérez-Sala
- Department of Structural and Chemical Biology
Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas Margarita Salas, CSIC, Madrid, Spain. Find out more here.
ELA International (societal partner)
- European Leukodystrophy Association ELA International – GEIE Luxembourg. Find out more here.
Patient Association VKS/Patiëntenvereniging VKS (societal partner)
EpiLipidNet
Multidisciplinary European network in the field of lipidomics and epilipidomics. COST Action CA19105
EpiLipidNet
EpiLipidNet aims to build and maintain a multidisciplinary pan-European network of researchers, clinicians and enterprises working in the field of lipidomics and epilipidomics, integrating more than 30 countries.
Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research, CSIC
An emblematic CSIC research center, which hosts leading research groups with complementary focus and expertise
Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research, CSIC
Margarita Salas Center for Biological Research studies the structure and organization of living matter and its processes, seeking to understand the bases of disease and discover experimental treatments that can help to face the current and future society challenges.
Alexander Disease Lab at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Specialized in the pathology at hand
Alexander Disease Lab at the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Alexander Disease Lab studies this progressive and sometimes fatal neurological disorder in which the destruction of white matter in the brain is accompanied by the formation of abnormal deposits known as Rosenthal fibers.
ELA Leuconnect
Leuconnect is a web platform for the community of patients with leukodystrophies and their families
ELA Leuconnect
Leuconnect connects patients together. Designed to support clinical research, it facilitates studies in the field of leukodystrophies.
Information in: English, Español, Italiano, Français, Nederlands
ELA International
European Leukodystrophy Association
ELA International
• information and support for families affected by leukodystrophy
• awareness of the public and the medical community
• funding for medical research on leukodystrophies and myelin repair
• the international development of ELA International and its members
Minoryx Therapeutics
Bringing new hope for people suffering from orphan CNS diseases
Minoryx Therapeutics
Minoryx is a clinical-stage biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapies for severe, orphan genetic diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) with high unmet medical need.
