Research and Development Department

As a forum that has undertaken to continue and develop the Aslan School, the Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging carries out extensive multidisciplinary scientific activities and is a partner in numerous international projects.  The Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging is currently building an organisation and financial network that will ensure the application of its recently developed research concepts.  These include the NEURO-MIND concept, which proposes a paradigm for the integrative heuristic approach, based on the juncture between the play of hypotheses and the human approach (Weinstein synergy) to phenomena of neuro-degeneration implied in cognitive pathology, with a final impact upon the elaboration of higher performance algorithms in the field of prevention, early diagnosis and therapy. The concept was launched and fostered by a series of leading specialists at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) held in Chicago in July 2008, where the foundations were laid for a consortium that is currently building the organisational and financial framework needed in order to apply the concept in a first project. 

Another original concept elaborated and put into practice by the Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging aims at a reassessment, in the context of Weinstein synergy, of the “veterans” of the arsenal of gerontological medication (which aim to delay brain aging) and geriatric medication (correction or amelioration of cerebral pathology associated with old age).  Another assiduously pursued research aim relates to the internationally recognised expertise of this institution in the field of clinical trials for medicaments (acetilcolinesterasis inhibitors, memantine, etc.), in the field of development of clinical and marketing criteria (including at the level of LCR0 for detection of pre-dementia states, and epidemiological studies (the DESCRIPA project), particularly in partnership with the European Alzheimer’s Disease Association.  Not least, thanks to the efforts of its President, Prof. Dr. Luiza Spiru, and medical and research team, the Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging is recognised as one of the leading promoters and partners at the global level in the field of elaborating IT and communications applications in the assistance of elderly people with various degrees of motor dependence and, in particular, cognitive dependence (the European-funded Share and DESCRIPA projects).

Thanks to the Diagnostic and Treatment Centre for Diseases of the Memory, founded in 2003, and the University Clinic for Geriatrics and Gerontology at the Elias University Hospital Clinic, under the auspices of the Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging, Romania is a recognised national and international partner of the prestigious EADC (European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium) Alzheimer Europe, which acts as a spearhead in the field of research into and monitoring of memory-loss diseases.  EADC activity is supported by the European Commission as part of the Framework 5 Programme “Quality of Life and Management of Life Resources”.

The EADC brings together fifty-two centres of excellence and acts as fully functional European network in the field of Alzheimer’s disease.  The Consortium actively participates in research in the field, particularly in the area of early diagnosis and treatment, supplying fundamental scientific know-how for the prevention and detection of Alzheimer’s and reduction or amelioration of symptoms, and constantly developing landmark international studies and publications (see bibliography).  Since its affiliation to the EADC in 2001, the Ana Aslan International Academy of Aging and the Elias University Hospital Clinic have endeavoured to create a National Health Programme for Patients with Memory Disturbances, developed within the framework of the Centre for Diagnosis and Treatment of Memory-Loss Diseases, internationally accredited by the European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium.  Although research into Alzheimer’s disease remains an increasing priority in Europe, EADC activity is currently affected by financial blockages.