{"id":12959,"date":"2025-10-16T15:01:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T13:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/lcsb-en\/?post_type=news&p=12959"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:36:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T12:36:39","slug":"luxembourg-celebrates-10-years-of-progress-in-parkinson-research","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/lcsb-en\/news\/luxembourg-celebrates-10-years-of-progress-in-parkinson-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Luxembourg celebrates 10 years of progress in Parkinson\u2019s research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This week, Luxembourg celebrates the 10th<\/sup> anniversary of the National Centre for <\/a>Excellence in Research on Parkinson\u2019s Disease<\/a> (NCER-PD) with an international conference at the Maison du Savoir in Belval. The event brings together leading scientists, clinicians, and policymakers to reflect on a decade of achievement and to look ahead to the next frontier in prevention and personalised care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as a national effort to bridge fundamental science, clinical practice, and patient engagement has evolved into an internationally recognised research alliance. Today, NCER-PD contributes to global initiatives including the Parkinson\u2019s Progression Markers Initiative<\/a> (PPMI) of the Michael J. Fox Foundation<\/a>. PPMI is the world\u2019s largest longitudinal Parkinson\u2019s study and highlights Luxembourg\u2019s growing role in the global Parkinson\u2019s research landscape. Over time, NCER-PD has also expanded its focus beyond characterising disease mechanisms to predicting disease risk to ultimately identify and apply strategies to prevent its onset and progression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBuilding a foundation for excellence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Launched in 2015 as one of the country\u2019s first interdisciplinary research flagships through funding of the Luxembourg <\/a>National<\/a> Research Fund<\/a> (FNR), NCER-PD has played a key role in positioning Luxembourg internationally as a trusted partner in Parkinson\u2019s research. \u201cWhen we launched NCER-PD in 2015, many doubted that a small country like Luxembourg could recruit hundreds of patients and controls, and build a national research cohort from the ground up,\u201d recalls Prof. Rudi Balling<\/a>, founding director of the LCSB and the first coordinator of NCER-PD. \u201cBut we proved that strong collaboration between research, clinics, and the community can make ambitious goals possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past decade, NCER-PD has united Luxembourg\u2019s major research and healthcare players: the Luxembourg Institute of Health<\/a> (LIH) and its Integrated BioBank (IBBL), the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine<\/a> (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg, the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg<\/a> (CHL), and the Laboratoire National de Sant\u00e9<\/a> (LNS), with the support of the FNR and other donors. Together, they have built one of Europe\u2019s most comprehensive research cohorts of people living with Parkinson\u2019s disease, later extending their studies to individuals at increased risk for neurodegeneration.

The LCSB contributed to establishing NCER-PD\u2018s foundations by building data infrastructure, analytics, and the patient engagement programme. Furthermore, using the collected samples, LCSB researchers developed advanced cellular models that replicate disease mechanisms and identified molecular and digital biomarkers. These efforts have paved the way for precision medicine approaches such as the use of polygenic risk scores<\/a>, taking into account the contribution of small common changes in the DNA, that individually do not cause Parkinson\u2019s but together increase the risk to develop the disease, for patient stratification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFrom precision medicine to prevention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The NCER-PD cohort has become a treasure trove for discovery and innovation that generate insights into the biology, progression, and diversity of Parkinson\u2019s disease. Data and samples collected over a decade now provide the foundation for many new studies. Linking clinical and molecular data with information recorded during the patients\u2019 daily activities, scientists can better understand how the disease affects their life and design more tailored interventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy connecting research with patient experience and clinical care, we contribute to a truly integrated care and prevention approach to Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d says Prof. Rejko Kr\u00fcger<\/a>, Full professor in Neurosciences \u2013 FNR PEARL Chair at the University of Luxembourg, and current coordinator of NCER-PD. \u201cOur next challenge, besides our efforts to develop disease-modifying treatment strategies, is to create personalised prevention strategies putting people with Parkinson\u2019s and those at risk at the centre of our work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-day conference<\/a> marking the 10-year milestone for NCER-PD, titled From Precision Medicine to Prevention in Parkinson\u2019s Disease<\/em>, brings together leading experts such as Prof. Nobutaka Hattori (Juntendo University, Japan), Prof. Roger Barker (University of Cambridge, UK), and Prof. Andrew Singleton (Global Parkinson\u2019s Genetics Program, USA), alongside young scientists presenting emerging ideas. A special session will honour the legacy of Prof. Rudi Balling, whose vision and leadership helped build the foundation for Luxembourg\u2019s success in Parkinson\u2019s disease research.

\u201cLuxembourg\u2019s long-term investment in NCER-PD shows how collaboration and continuity in research can lead to tangible progress for patients and visibility for a country,\u201d said Prof. Roger Barker<\/a>, member of NCER-PD scientific advisory board and keynote speaker at the conference. \u201cThis initiative demonstrates that small countries can play a major role in tackling global health challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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