On January 30, 2018, the Limburg Provincial Executive approved co-financing in the amount of €165,337.50 for the Herinneringen (“Memories”) project. Toxicogenomics Maastricht University and ToxGenSolutions BV (based at the Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus) are working on this project together with partners from Flanders to develop an innovative, reliable and early diagnostic test for people with Alzheimer’s disease. The Memories Project also received an INTERREG subsidy in early 2018 valued at nearly €800,000.

Twan Beurskens, Deputy of Economics & Knowledge Infrastructure for the Province of Limburg: “Research on Alzheimer’s is vital. It is a terrible disease that many people suffer from. This co-financing will facilitate high-quality research on Alzheimer’s. In the long run, this will yield benefits for patients and will help the Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus to promote itself nationally and internationally.”

Early diagnosis and effective treatment of neurodegenerative disorders - in addition to Alzheimer’s, these also include Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis - can significantly improve the lives of patients and their families. At the same time, this will result in a decrease in the costs of health care; after all, the multiple hospital admissions and intensive care regimen contribute considerably to increasing costs. “Memories” will focus initially on Alzheimer’s disease. The goal is to design diagnostics that will detect the disease early, monitor the disease’s progress and evaluate the effects of medication. Early diagnosis makes it possible to start treatment sooner which can postpone, slow down or even stop the disease’s progression.

In addition to improved early diagnosis and treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, Memories will also have an economic impact on the region as a whole, and the Province of Limburg in particular. The expectation is that by the end of 2020, the know-how required for early diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease will be available and that a prototype will have been developed that will be valorised by ToxGenSolutions. The next step will then be to find a commercial party that can launch the product on the market under license.

Partners, budget and duration

Every partner in the consortium which consists of Maastricht University, ToxGenSolutions, Louvain Catholic University, University of Antwerp, Icometrix and reMYND, is based in Flanders and the Southern Netherlands and is a leader in their professional field. Bundling these strengths and the resulting synergy will serve as a great stimulus for innovation. The total budget for “Memories” is €2,476,613.03. The project will run up to and including December 31, 2020.