NEUROWEB

The amount of biomedical information that can be accessed through the Internet has reached a level no one could have dreamt of just ten years ago. The success of the genome sequencing projects has created an enormous amount of data that cannot be manually analysed. Since disease phenotypes arise from complex interaction between genetic factors and environment, the value of high-throughput genomic research would be dramatically enhanced by associations with key patient data. These data are generally available but of disparate quality and sources.The development of a data management system which integrates genomic databanks, clinical databases, and data mining tools embedded into a common resource accessible to health care professionals would be extremely advantageous.

Ischemic stroke is a major health problem in the developed countries. It is a complex, multigenic disorder, since there are several subtypes and risk factors, and most of the cases have non-mendelian inheritance. The integration and the analysis of a large number of well-defined clinical, radiological and molecular data will improve the evidence on the different roles played by genetic and environmental risk factors in stroke pathophysiology.

Within the framework of cerebrovascular disease, the objectives of the NEUROWEB project are:

• To integrate clinical and genetic databases of the participating centres, different for structure and language, into a single virtual database;
• To query the genetic databanks containing human genetic profiles present on the web;
• To generate new knowledge on single patients with cerebrovascular disease, in order to achieve personalised prevention, diagnosis and therapy;
• To promote collaborative research practices among the research communities involved in the project in order to share and enhance knowledge in the neurological domain.

The final aim of the NEUROWEB project is to foster vertical integration between clinical and genetic data in other common and complex diseases (i.e. cardiovascular diseases and tumours), in order to improve and personalise healthcare delivery in EC.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.neurowebkc.eu

Project co-ordinator:
Istituto Nazionale Neurologico "Carlo Besta" (IT)

Partners:

• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche (IT);
• University of Milan – BICOCCA (IT)
• Regione Lombardia (IT);
• Erasmus University of Rotterdam (NL);
• Medical School of Patras University (GR);
• Orszagos Pszichiatriai es Neurologiai Intezet (HU);
• University of Veszprém (HU);
• SirseNet spa (IT);
• Microsystems srl (IT);
• Velti A.E. (GR)

Timetable: from 06/06 – to 05/08

Total cost: € 2.751.129

EC funding: € 1.883.500

Instrument: STREP

Project Identifier: IST-2006-518513

Source: FP6 eHealth Portfolio of Projects