The Lifebrain project is dedicated to advancing our knowledge of the risk and protective factors impacting brain health, with the ultimate goal of preventing mental diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.
The project brings together data from over 6000 research participants collected across 11 European brain-imaging studies, providing a comprehensive picture of brain health.
Personalised health care for prevention and intervention
Better brain health means improved cognitive function in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and delayed onset of dementia. Better brain health also means a reduced need for health care and improved working ability.
The Lifebrain project seeks to lay the foundation for earlier diagnosis and better preventive and therapeutic strategies by integrating, harmonising and enriching existing European databases of brain, cognitive, and mental health measures.
Enabling international collaboration
The project used Sigma2 and the Sensitive Data Service (TSD) as data storage and processing platform, enabling cooperation with researchers at international partner sites. With 13 partners across 8 European countries, a platform with the ability to securely and easily access data also for international collaborators was critical to the success of the project.
TSD allows for the linking of sensitive data to other databases and biobanks, such as birth registries and national archives. The University of Oslo`s Nettskjema tool is used to gather new data through online surveys, which are securely imported directly into the project area. The project also provides researchers with access to databases and services developed in-house, ensuring they have the data they need when they need it.
Analyses are performed on the TSD HPC cluster Colossus, where resources granted from Sigma2 are used, as well as infrastructure owned by the host research centre.
About Lifebrain
Lifebrain was a 5-year research project led by the Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition at the University of Oslo, with Project Leader Inge Amlien. The project was funded with 10 million EUR by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.