The purpose of the Alzheimer Research Foundation is to contribute to the development of research in the field of Alzheimer's disease and related syndromes in France and beyond. In order to achieve this objective, in 2011 the Foundation created the European Research Prize.
Each year, after a selection made by the European Scientific Committee of the Grand Prix, the Foundation awards a prize to a researcher known in the scientific community for the high level of their scientific publications and their capability to mobilise a team around a particularly promising research project.
This year, The European Grand Prize for Research was awarded to Professor Bart De Strooper.
Professor De Strooper's scientific contribution to the field of Alzheimer's disease is major. His work has contributed to the identification of mutations in the presenilin gene that are responsible for the majority of the genetic forms of disease. He also clarified the role of enzymes (gamma and beta secretase), whose activity results in the genesis of the beta-amyloid fragment, one of the major players in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. But Professor De Strooper's scientific contribution, essential to the knowledge of the physiopathology of Alzheimer's disease, does not stop there as he also showed the the role of certain enzymes, called kinases, in the genesis of certain forms of Parkinson's disease.
The prize will be officially awarded in February 2018 at the 13th Foundation Gala.
