Our scientific retreat in Genval, in May 2019, showed a strong ambition, commitment, and many fresh ideas within the Leuven research community to tackle neurodegenerative diseases. To further stimulate this, Mission Lucidity decided to offer seeding money to the most promising and innovative research lines.

In Fall 2019, we launched an internal call to kick-start innovative and technology-driven research projects. Proposals had to fulfill several other criteria, such as scientific excellence of the team and project, an ambitious work plan, and the potential to make a strong impact for patients and society. They were evaluated by a panel of high-level international experts in fundamental and clinical neurodegeneration research.

“All submitted projects were considered excellent, and the reviewers had a hard time ranking them,” says scientific project manager Elsa Lauwers, who collected the external review reports. Mission Lucidity’s Steering Committee was pleased to see the high quality of the proposals and selected four that will receive seeding money in the form of one year’s salary of a post doc. The four post docs will be expected to further develop their project and assist with applications for additional funding.

All four projects combine basic and clinical research with innovative technological developments. Stay tuned to learn how they will change the way we prevent, diagnose and treat neurodegenerative diseases.