DRONE - Drug Repurposing fOr Neurological disEases
The project aims to develop new and effective treatments for the neurological diseases Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Main content
The researchers will analyze data from the Norwegian health registries, including the Prescription Register and Patient Register, using an innovative drug repurposing approach based on the history of prescriptions for the entire Norwegian population during last 16 years. The newly developed methodology will help identify drug candidates for new treatment for the diseases.听These candidates will be then validated in experimental studies (both in vitro and in vivo) in collaboration with the excellent researchers at Harvard University in Boston, USA
Apart from securing its own funding via and (The Research Council of Norway), DRONE is also part of the initiative on the treatment of neurological disease,听听(Norway's first research center for clinical treatment in neurology) at Haukeland University Hospital / UiB.
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News
- Professor听听will be awarded honorary doctorate听at a ceremony to be held in the University Aula on May 24th馃帀 His collaboration with the University of Bergen began many years ago when Ascherio was introduced to Professor Trond Riise, and the two began exploring the causes of MS. Connection to Bergen has strengthened over time, largely thanks to and听听
- 听(Norwegian newspaper) has interviewed Julia Romanowska:听"Study: Linking Parkinson's to drug use."听
- New article with Julia Romanowska first author i Neurology: 听
- NEW article from听PhD Candidate听Akash Kapali:听
- Master's student passed his master's exam on June 14! DRONE congratulates Muhammad!
- NEW article from听PhD Candidate听Julia Axiina Tuominen:听
- DRONE group had a one-day long seminar at Augustin Hotel 17th November 2022
- DRONE welcome ,听MSc Global Health student at The University of Bergen!
- Asieh Abolpour Mofrad will defend her dissertation on 15.11.2021 for the PhD degree at the University of Bergen with the dissertation听"Clique-Based Neural Associative Memories".
- September 16th 2021 14:00-14:45: Trial lecture - PhD Asieh Abolpour Mofrad
- August 2021: Asieh Abolpour Mofrad has started in DRONE - welcome!
- April 2021:听Hopefully a DRONE seminar will be arranged at 26-27听May!
- March 2021: We are looking forward to Asieh Abolpour Mofrad starting with us in August as a postdoctoral fellow!听
- Sept.听2020: Welcome to two new PhD students, Julia Tuominen and Akash Kapali!
- Sept. 2020: We have received extra funding from ALS patients鈥� association ()! This will help us dedicate a full PhD-position to research on this disease.
Presentations
Julia Romanowska presented听"" at TRACE - opening seminar 19th听February 2024.
Trond Riise presented at a conference in Italy 16th November 2023: 听"Use of Artificial Intelligence on registry data to screen for repurposing drugs in neurodegenerative diseases" Conference webpage (italian):听听
Julia Romanowska presented "" at "The 29th听Norwegian Epidemiological Association (NOFE) conference in Trondheim (15th听to 16th听November 2023)"听
Akash Kapali听presented MoBa findings at 听- world鈥檚 largest research meeting in multiple sclerosis held 11-13 October at Allianz MiCo in Milan. "Dietary vitamin D and the risk of multiple sclerosis in the Norwegian Mother and Child cohort"听(oral presentation)听
Multiple Sclerosis Journal. 2023;29(3_suppl):4-136. doi:Neuro-SysMed Annual Symposium 2023, September 25-26, 2023 Solstrand, Norway:听
Julia Axiina Tuominen presented with the title: 芦Medication use after diagnosis and Parkinson鈥檚 disease survival: A target trial approach鈥�. See听
Akash Kapali presented with the title: 鈥淒ietary vitamin D and the risk of multiple sclerosis in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child cohort鈥� See听.听Muhammad gave two presentations about his master project at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases () and at the FEST Seminar.
Trond was presenting DRONE at Datathon () and will be presenting at /ai/157424/uib-ai-4-examples-medical-ai
Akash was attending ECTRIMS (26-28 Oct.,听)
Muhammad and Jannicke were attending NOFE ()
- Julia T.:听听( 02:48 PM - 03:00 PM PDT Abstract 010 - Selective 脽2-Adrenoreceptor Agonists and Long-Term Parkinson鈥檚 Disease Risk Julia Axiina Tuominen, MPsych)
- Julia T.:听Poster:听"Definition and Incidence of Parkinson鈥檚 Disease Based on听Nationwide Prescription- and Diagnostic Data" at听听(3-7. October 2021)
- Trond: Abstract "A reverse translational research project for identifying new treatments for Parkinson鈥檚 disease: The Italian/Norwegian drug-screening project" at听 (24. Sept 2021)
- Julia R.: R-Medicine 听() (Thursday, August 26th 2021)
- Julia R.: Bioinformatics in Bergen (18-19. Aug. 2021)
- Julia R.: CEDAS Diving into registry data听() (1-2. June听2021)
Collaborators
Publications
听Kapali A, Daltveit AK, Myhr KM, Bjornevik K, Baldin E, Pugliatti M, Riise T, Cortese M.J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2023 Dec 14;95(1):8-13.
听Romanowska J, Bjornevik K, Cortese M, Tuominen JA, Solheim M, Abolpour Mofrad A, Igland J, Scherzer CR, Riise T.Neurology. 2023 Nov 21;101(21):e2068-e2077.
听Tuominen JA, Bj酶rnevik K,听Romanowska J, Solheim MH, Grydeland TB, Cortese M, Scherzer CR, Riise T, Igland J.Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2023 May;110:105389.听
听Eid K, Torkildsen 脴, Aarseth J, Celius EG, Cortese M, Holm酶y T,听Kapali A, Myhr KM, Torkildsen CF, Wergeland S, Gilhus NE, Bj酶rk MH.J Neurol. 2022 Nov;269(11):5901-5909.
About
is a group of rare neurological diseases that mainly involve the nerve cells (neurons) responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. Voluntary muscles produce movements like chewing, walking,听and talking. The disease is progressive, meaning the symptoms get worse over time. Currently, there is no cure for ALS and no effective treatment to halt, or reverse, the progression of the disease.
is a brain disorder that leads to shaking, stiffness, and听difficulty with walking, balance, and coordination.听Parkinson's symptoms usually begin gradually and get worse over time. As the disease progresses, people may have difficulty walking and talking. They may also have mental and behavioral changes, sleep problems, depression, memory difficulties, and fatigue.
is a chronic disease affecting the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).MS occurs when the immune system attacks nerve fibers and myelin sheathing (a fatty substance which surrounds/insulates healthy nerve fibers) in the brain and spinal cord. This attack causes inflammation, which destroys nerve cell processes and myelin 鈥� altering electrical messages in the brain.
MS is unpredictable and affects each patient differently 鈥� some individuals may be mildly affected, while others may lose their ability to write, speak or walk. There are several courses of multiple sclerosis that have been described
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is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.听Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is the most common cause of dementia among older adults.听Dementia听is the loss of cognitive functioning鈥攖hinking, remembering, and reasoning鈥攁nd behavioral abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person鈥檚 daily life and activities. Dementia ranges in severity from the mildest stage, when it is just beginning to affect a person鈥檚 functioning, to the most severe stage, when the person must depend completely on others for basic activities of daily living
