Towards a better outcome of neurological disorders

How can multiple sclerosis be stopped? What are the factors that trigger it? How can subsequent damage due to stroke be minimized or prevented? What kinds of interventions are possible? What causes the malformations in the brain that spark epileptic seizures and other events?

Within the NeuroCure excellence cluster, 25 scientists and researchers from Charité, Humboldt-Universität, Freie Universität, the Max Delbrück Center (MDC), the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum (German Rheumatism Research Center), and the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology are working together to improve quality of life for patients with neurological disease. This is necessary because the serious changes in the brain that can come with diseases such as multiple sclerosis often also place those affected in a worse social situation or lead to physical disability and inability to work.

At present, physicians have few treatment options to offer patients with these diseases. The only treatment currently available for the 700,000 epilepsy sufferers in Germany, for instance, is symptomatic therapy. Achieving a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms may help make epilepsy treatable. Strokes are also widespread, affecting one in four men and one in five women over the age of 85 in Germany. If researchers are able to achieve better insight into the brain’s protective mechanisms and utilize the underlying cascades of signals therapeutically, stroke patients may benefit.

The interdisciplinary project, which is based at Charité, focuses on six research areas, with one researcher who works on fundamental research and one practicing physician sharing responsibility for each area. The participants hope that this approach will make it possible to use research findings more quickly in the development of new therapies. At present, the only treatment for neurological diseases is aimed at alleviating their effects – they are not generally curable. Close interdisciplinary cooperation between researchers and clinical practitioners, flat hierarchies, improved training, and collaborative efforts across all neurosciences represent the approach taken by NeuroCure. Charité is building a new research building for this project and providing space in the clinic on the campus in the Mitte district of Berlin as well.

Further information:

Neurocure