The European Brain Research Area (EBRA), an IBRO partner, promotes cooperation and exchange between brain research projects and networks through the formation of research clusters in Europe.

 Since 2019, open calls were launched by the EBRA consortium that resulted in the creation of six clusters. The focus of these clusters revolved around brain health and nutrition (BRAINFOOD), epilepsy (EPICLUSTER), the prevention of severe mental disorders such as psychosis and bipolar disorders (PSMD),  predictive model systems (PREMOS), Down syndrome and disorders of the developing brain (TRISOMY21) and imaging biomarkers (ECIB).  

2022 is the final year of EBRA and to mark the end of the project, we invited cluster representatives to discuss the objectives, outcomes, and future directions of their work.

Representatives of the research infrastructure EBRAINS, a partner of the EBRA project through the Human Brain Project, conducted interviews with cluster coordinators. The interviews consisted of a presentation of the purpose of the clusters and a description of the role of the partner involved, but also touched upon the key research and advocacy points raised during the cluster activities (messages to policymakers, needs about data-sharing, or ethical considerations, for example) and outline future plans of the clusters.

We hope you enjoy learning about the EBRA clusters in these interviews.

PREMOS cluster

Interview with Dr. Sabine Holter-Koch from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and Prof. Martien Kas from the University of Groningen.

BRAINFOOD Cluster

Interview with Prof Roger Adan, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, and Prof. Suzanne Dickson, University of Gothenburg

More information: Towards new nutritional policies for brain health: A research perspective on future actions, Adan et al, Brain Behavior and Immunity 105 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2022.07.012

ECIB cluster

 Interview with Prof. Thilo van Eimeren from the Cologne University Hospital and Dr. Stefano F. Cappa from the University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia and IRCCS Mondino Foundation

TRISOMY21 cluster

Interview with Dr. Mara Dierssen, research director at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, and Dr. Marie-Claude Potier, Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Co-Group Leader of the “Alzheimer’s and Prion Diseases” research group at Paris Brain Institute, ICM at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France.

More information: TRISOMY21 cluster EBRA consensus statement, Dierssen, M; Potier, MC; Herault, Y; Perluigi, M; Fisher, L; Barone, E; Delabar, JM; Strydom, A.

PSMD Cluster

Interview with Prof. Paolo Fusar-Poli. Paolo, Professor of Preventive Psychiatry at the Department of Psychosis Studies at the King’s College London.

More information: Ethical considerations for precision psychiatry: A roadmap for research and clinical practice, Fusar-Poli et al, European Neuropsychopharmacology (October 2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2022.08.001

EPICLUSTER

Interview with David Henshall, Professor of Molecular Physiology and Neuroscience at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Medicine & Health Sciences as well as the Director of FutureNeuro.