On 14-15 June, Mission Lucidity hosted a scientific retreat at Martin’s Château du Lac in Genval, Belgium. Nearly 50 group leaders from imec, KU Leuven, UZ Leuven and VIB, all involved in brain and neurodegeneration research, were invited for this scientific brainstorming and networking event.

On the first day, our chairman dr. Urbain Vandeurzen welcomed everyone with a warm call to collaborate and join our mission. The members of our Scientific Committee gave an overview of Mission Lucidity’s past activities and ongoing research projects. 

Afterwards, we gave engineers, clinicians and basic

researchers a spot at the same table in a scientific speed-networking session. By stimulating chats between people from different fields, we aimed to encourage the development of innovative, interdisciplinary ideas. 

We ended the day with an informal dinner in the venue’s cozy patio.

The second day featured two roundtable discussions on big themes in the neurodegeneration field. How can we monitor early changes in brain and behaviour caused by diseases like dementia? How can we obtain a molecular map of the human brain, to identify crucial targets for therapies? Several strong ideas came up during these discussions, which will be further developed in new task forces.

We closed the retreat with a final brainstorm in ‘world café’ format. Participants alternately visited three tables, each centered around a specific question. One focused on promoting transdisciplinary collaboration, both within and outside our Leuven community. The other questions were related to maximizing research funding and supporting clinical validation of new technologies and research findings.

The participants were very positive about the event and many indicated their interest to actively contribute to Mission Lucidity's research projects and activities. The outcome included the strengthening of existing collaborations and the launch of new task forces towards brain monitoring and interventions.

Taken together, we feel that this retreat has contributed to reducing the distance between fundamental, clinical and technological researchers in Leuven. We are highly looking forward to the future and what we can accomplish with this team!