Collaboration and knowledge integration for successful brain therapeutics - lessons learned from the pandemic.
Maria Isabel LozaJulija HmeljakChas BountraJames E AudiaSohini ChowdhuryShannon WeimanKalpana M MerchantMaria-Jesus BlancoPublished in: Disease models & mechanisms (2022)
Brain diseases are a major cause of death and disability worldwide and contribute significantly to years of potential life lost. Although there have been considerable advances in biological mechanisms associated with brain disorders as well as drug discovery paradigms in recent years, these have not been sufficiently translated into effective treatments. This Special Article expands on Keystone Symposia's pre- and post-pandemic panel discussions on translational neuroscience research. In the article, we discuss how lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic can catalyze critical progress in translational research, with efficient collaboration bridging the gap between basic discovery and clinical application. To achieve this, we must place patients at the center of the research paradigm. Furthermore, we need commitment from all collaborators to jointly mitigate the risk associated with the research process. This will require support from investors, the public sector and pharmaceutical companies to translate disease mechanisms into world-class drugs. We also discuss the role of scientific publishing in supporting these models of open innovation. Open science journals can now function as hubs to accelerate progress from discovery to treatments, in neuroscience in particular, making this process less tortuous by bringing scientists together and enabling them to exchange data, tools and knowledge effectively. As stakeholders from a broad range of scientific professions, we feel an urgency to advance brain disease therapies and encourage readers to work together in tackling this challenge.
Keyphrases
- resting state
- white matter
- healthcare
- small molecule
- drug discovery
- sars cov
- coronavirus disease
- functional connectivity
- minimally invasive
- cerebral ischemia
- multiple sclerosis
- high throughput
- public health
- mental health
- emergency department
- randomized controlled trial
- electronic health record
- subarachnoid hemorrhage
- big data
- brain injury
- climate change
- blood brain barrier
- data analysis
- cell fate