CRONOS Project

The chronnectomic brain: uncovering the neuropathological fingerprints in dementia

The main objective of the project is to generate, implement and evaluate a new framework to identify the neuropathological footprint of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other causes of dementia by integrating various analyses such as brain chronectomics, measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) signals, and other types of heterogeneous data.

This project is funded by the "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación", "Agencia Estatal de Investigación", and co-financed with European Union Structural Funds under the thematic objective "Promover el desarrollo tecnológico, la innovación y una investigación de calidad"

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Coordination
Partnership - Collaborator Groups

GIB-UVa

The group responsible for this project is the Biomedical Engineering Group of the University of Valladolid (GIB). GIB is a multidisciplinary group, mainly formed by Telecommunication Engineers and Doctors of different specialties (pneumology, neurology, psychiatry, neurophysiology, and ophthalmology). Its members have a wide experience in brain signal processing to help the diagnosis of different neurological diseases.

Jesús Poza Crespo – jesus.poza.crespo@uva.es
Carlos Gómez Peña – c.gomez@uva.es

Hospital Río Hortega

The Río Hortega University Hospital (HURH) is a public center of the Regional Health Management of Castile and Leon. The Department of Neurology and Neurophysiology has an extensive experience in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

VU University

The Vrije Universitetit (VU) of Amsterdam, is an university characterized by a high academic research level, which encourages communication, and free, open ideas. They possess a vast experience in neuroscience, with worldwide outstanding researchers.

Hokuto Hospital

Hokuto Hospital is located on the island of Hokkaidō (Japan). They have extensive research experience aimed at improving medical care. Since 2004, they use magnetoencephalography (MEG) system for clinical medicine and basic research.

IPATIMUP

The Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology (IPATIMUP) of the University of Porto was founded in 1989 and has consolidated a position as an international reference in disease research. IPATIMUP research is focused on the study of biological mechanisms of complex diseases, early diagnosis methods, decreasing the incidence of different diseases, increasing treatment effectiveness and, consequently, improving the quality of life of the patients.

Coma Science Group

The Coma Science Group of the University of Liège is a multidisciplinary research group whose aim is to provide further information on disorders of consciousness, including coma, vegetative states or locked-in syndrome. This group specializes in the diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic interventions of these patients.

Our Goals

The overall aim of the project is to design, implement and evaluate a novel framework to identify the specific neuropathological footprint of dementia due to AD and other types of dementia using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) signals.

Specific objectives

M/EEG data integration - SO1

Conceptualize, design and implement a new paradigm for integrating M/EEG information from classical metrics and new chronectomic parameters, which is able to intuitively integrate the neural substrate.

Integración de información heterogénea - SO2

To define and develop a new framework to adaptively integrate heterogeneous information to obtain a specific biological fingerprint.

Neuropathological fingerprint of AD - SO3

To identify the neuropathological fingerprint of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.

Neuropathological fingerprints of other types of dementia - SO4

To evaluate the specificity of neuropathological traces of other causes of dementia.

Internationalization of research

To achieve the ambitious objectives of the project, we consider it essential to join forces with researchers from different disciplines and countries. Therefore, this proposal constitutes a Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience project with a clear transnational vocation (researchers from Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Japan and Belgium will participate in this project) and highly multidisciplinary (involving engineers, neuroscientists, physicists, neurophysiologists, neurologists, neurologists and mathematicians).

In particular, four foreign leading centers will actively participate in the project

  • Precision Medicine Center at Hokuto Hospital (Japan).
  • The VU University of Amsterdam (The Nederlands).
  • El Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (Portugal).
  • Coma Science Group (Belgium)

Training capacity

Training plan for new researchers

The training plan for predoctoral researchers is designed to ensure the development of advanced methodological skills and the knowledge necessary to undertake cutting-edge research in advanced methods of neuronal signal processing and data fusion.

Previous experience - Completed PhD Thesis

During the last decade, 17 Doctoral Theses have been defended within the research group that leads the proposal (GIB), all of them related to signal and image processing. They generated a total of 170 articles in JCR journals.

Professional career of graduate PhDs

All the doctors who have developed their Doctoral Thesis at the GIB have continued their career in prestigious institutions or innovative companies, both inside and outside Spain.

Scientific-technical and training context of the team

The researchers involved in the project combine the experience of established scientists and young researchers with enormous potential. The research proposal includes international specialists in Engineering, Neuroscience, Medical Physics, Neurology, Neurophysiology and Mathematics, working in several internationally renowned institutions.

Expected impact of the results

Scientific-technical impact

  • Application of new techniques to study and identify the alterations that Alzheimer's disease and other causes of dementia cause in neuronal activity.
  • Development of a framework to quantify specific alterations of the different causes of dementia based on M/EEG records, and capable of integrating heterogeneous information from other data sources.
  • Investigation of potential biomarkers of the early stages of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease.
  • Knowledge transfer between the various scientific fields involved in the project.
  • Training of new researchers in a promising scientific field.

Social and clinical impact

  • Reduction of the burden on caregivers and the dependence associated with dementia, thanks to the possibility of early and effective planning of therapeutic interventions.
  • Transfer of knowledge to clinical practice to objectify the diagnosis of dementia.
  • Employment: hiring predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers.

Economic impact

  • Savings in human, material and economic resources dedicated to diagnosis in the National Health Systems, thanks to the introduction of new biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in the stage of mild cognitive impairment, based on a technique widely disseminated in the clinical environment and with a reduced cost, as the EEG.
  • Direct and indirect medical cost savings, due to the early application of therapies to delay disabilities associated with Alzheimer's disease and, therefore, to reduce dependence on medical care.

Project stages

Stage 1. Organization of the database.

We will increase the sample size of the three databases we currently have available to obtain a representative dataset, which will be useful to develop the new framework, integrating all the information collected, and the identification of potential biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease dementia. Currently, these databases consist of MEG or EEG recordings, sociodemographic variables and clinical data, all collected according to the same protocol and belonging to cognitively healthy elderly controls, patients with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia.

Stage 2. M/EEG metrics computation

Different metrics capable of quantifying different properties of M/EEG activity will be obtained from each database. For this task, it will be essential to investigate and apply new chronectomics measures capable of accurately reflecting the dynamic behavior of the brain network. This will provide an accurate representation of the functional neural network as a dynamic graph. Different network parameters will then be calculated to obtain an accurate description of the brain network.

Stage 3. Fusion of data and obtaining the neuropathological footprints of the pathologies.

New methodologies for adaptively integrating information will be proposed, created and evaluated. This ambitious stage can be divided into the following two sub-stages:

  • Integration of metrics obtained from M/EEG records, both classical and chronectomic.
  • Fusion of metrics derived from M/EEG signals with other heterogeneous data types.

Identification of neuropathological traces of the causes of dementia.

Different classification strategies to identify the neuropathological footprint of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and other causes of dementia will be discussed. This last stage can be divided into the following two sub-stages:

  • Identification of the neuropathological footprint of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, and new biomarkers that can detect this pathology.
  • Extension of the methodology to other causes of dementia.

Related publications


JCR Articles

Conference reports

Diffusion

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Contact us


Address

  • Jesús Poza Crespo, PhD
  • Grupo de Ingeniería Biomédica
  • Paseo Belén 15 | 47011 - Valladolid, España
  • +34 983 18 3569
  • jesus.poza.crespo@uva.es

  • Carlos Gómez Peña, PhD
  • Grupo de Ingeniería Biomédica
  • Paseo Belén 15 | 47011 - Valladolid, España
  • +34 983 42 3981
  • c.gomez@uva.es