The Translational Brain Disease Centre of the Fahrenheit Union of Universities has been established
22.04.2025
Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk University of Technology, the Fahrenheit Union of Universities have signed an agreement to establish the Translational Brain Disease Centre of the Fahrenheit Union of Universities. The unit was established at the initiative of Prof. Dr. Habil. Bartosz Karaszewski, Head of the Department of Neurology and the Department of Adult Neurology at MUG.
The idea behind the venture is to increase cooperation between the research teams of the three universities in the field of neuroscience, with a particular focus on projects initially aimed at clinical applications. The Centre’s research will be conducted by groups representing various scientific disciplines, including biology, psychology, technical sciences and mathematics, among others, interested in pursuing basic, clinically applicable projects. The establishment of the unit was preceded by an expanding collaboration between the Department of Adult Neurology at MUG and the Department of Molecular Biology at UoG, the Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology at Gdańsk Tech and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Gdańsk Tech. The Centre’s development directions include the application of molecular biology research methods in combination with in vitro and in vivo experimental modeling in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as mathematical modeling and the application of deep learning and artificial intelligence techniques in improving the diagnostic process and personalizing therapy for brain disorders. The core concept is to conduct translational projects, from bench to bedside, the implementation of which requires cooperation of experts from theoretically distant disciplines, including those that usually operate in medical universities in a small or selective way.
– The concept of the Centre includes any project whose main goal is to develop a clinically useful diagnostic technique, therapeutic method or, what is particularly attractive at this stage of medical development, a computational application that will allow personalizing the therapeutic management in a significantly better manner, using methods that are already at our, clinicians’, disposal,– explains Prof. Dr. Habil. Bartosz Karaszewski, Head of the Department of Neurology and the Department of Adult Neurology at MUG. When asked about the role of the Medical University of Gdansk in the work of the Centre and the research being conducted there, the professor replied, ,–There are several projects already formulated in the form of grant proposals or already underway that will immediately build the Centre’s portfolio. However, that is not the point. In a nutshell, the Centre is first and foremost an endeavor that can be used by any basic science researcher who would like to plan a new applied-clinical study or translate the results of his or her previous work into clinical language, and any clinician who identifies a significant practical problem solvable at the “bio”, “chem”, “phys”, “mat”, or “IT” laboratory level. This naturally applies to brain diseases, with all the specificity and complexity of these. A sphere in which the consideration of numerous factors in clinical decision-making with appropriate weight given to each one is of particular importance. I will try to coordinate these areas.
The newly established Centre constitutes an evolution of the MUG’s Brain Disease Centre research unit, established in 2022 as a part of implementing the Excellence Initiative Program – MUG Research University. The agreement initiating the Translational Brain Disease Centre of the Fahrenheit Union of Universities is the first of its kind to be established within the scope of the three universities that make up the Union. Work on the draft agreement was carried out with the active participation of the scientists delegates to the project of each university: Prof. Dr. Habil. Bartosz Karaszewski (MUG), Prof. Dr. Habil. Grzegorz Węgrzyn (UoG), Dr. Habil. Anna Stanisławska-Sachadyn (Gdańsk Tech) and a team from the Fahrenheit Union of Universities and the IDUB Office at MUG.
Prof. Bartosz Karaszewski emphasizes how important the cooperation of all the universities that make up the Fahrenheit Union of Universities is in this project – The rapid development of clinical neuroscience is currently conditioned by a multi-domain drive (different research techniques of basic sciences, different basic sciences, also ones that are thematically distant) and multi-area specificity (pathophysiological diversity of brain disorders). Only a few of these domains and areas are explored by groups operating at MUG, and in the area of “mat” or “IT” – even to a very small extent, which is naturally related only to the specific profile of the university and in no way detracts from its quality – which is, after all, unquestionably ahead. We simply need to drive the development of clinical neuroscience, also with profiles of other research interests and experiences. The Translational Brain Disease Centre of the Fahrenheit Union of Universities was established at the initiative of Prof. dr. hab. Bartosz Karaszewski, head of the Department of Neurology and the Department of Adult Neurology at MUG, who is also the National Consultant in Neurology, chairman of the Committee of Clinical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and chairman of the Brain Vascular Diseases Section of the Polish Neurological Society. The concept of the Centre was presented at a meeting of the Assembly of the Fahrenheit Union of Universities, and was met with great interest. The unit is open to all research initiatives that fit into the concept of translatability in neuroscience.
Photo Jarosław Praszkiewicz