European Commission Launches New Atrial Fibrillation Research Network

On 1st of November 2010, the European Commission has launched a new large scale collaborative project aiming at improvement of patient care in patients with Atrial Fibrillation. The “European Network for Translational Research in Atrial Fibrillation” (EUTRAF) was granted a total amount of 12 million Euros for integrated research in order to explore disease mechanisms and to develop better diagnostic means and new therapies in patients with Atrial Fibrillation. The total funding period of this network is 5 years. The Need for Research on Atrial Fibrillation: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, occurring in between 1 and 2% of the general population. More than 6 million Europeans suffer from this arrhythmia and its prevalence is expected to increase by more than 2 fold during the next 50 years. Thus, AF is said to stand at epidemic proportion. The most important complication of AF are ischemic strokes which occur 5 times more often in patients with AF and which – if survived – often leave the patient disabled requiring long-term clinical care. At least one percent of the healthcare budget of Western European and North American countries is spent on the management of AF. AF therefore presents a rapidly growing social, medical and public health problem. “There is urgent need for better prevention of AF, more effective treatment of the arrhythmia and also for the prevention of disabling complications.” Prof. Camm, coordinator of the consortium working at St. George University in London says. Structure and Participants of EUTRAF: The European Network for Translational Research in Atrial Fibrillation (EUTRAF) is a multidisciplinary consortium of expert groups involved in atrial fibrillation research. The consortium consists of academic research groups and industry partners. Expertise ranges from molecular biology, genetics, and experimental electrophysiology, to engineering, computer science and cardiology. The partners will work in a matrix structure organized around central work packages each of which will utilize the full range of expertise provided by the network. Prof. Schotten, working at Maastricht University and one of the two technical field managers of EUTRAF, emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary collaboration: ““In my opinion, bringing together diverse expertise’s, joining forces from different disciplines, from different institutions, and finally from different countries is nowadays essential in order to perform competitive and truly innovative research.” The consortium is being led by Professor John Camm from St. George‘s University of London (UK) and consists of the following partners: St-George’s University of London (UK)
Maastricht University (Netherlands)
Université Pierre Marie Curie – Paris (France)
Technische Universität Dresden (Germany)
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire – Bordeaux (France)
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (Germany)
University Hospital Magdeburg (Germany)
Universität Bern (Switzerland)
University Hospital Graz (Austria)
Medical Information Technology Solutions (Turkey)
University of Oxford (UK)
UK Health & Environment Research Institute (UK)
Sanofi-aventis Deutschland GmbH (Germany)
Osypka AG (Germany)
Xention Ltd (UK)
Ruprecht-Karls Universität – Heidelberg (Germany)
Philipps Universität – Marburg (Germany)
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität – Greifswald (Germany) The Mission of EUTRAF: EUTRAF’s mission is to improve the management of Atrial Fibrillation in Europe. This is intended to be achieved by identifying patients who are at-risk for AF at an early stage and by better understanding of the factors leading towards persistent AF. Another important strategy is to develop accurate diagnostic tools for identification of disease mechanisms in an individual patient and to design a specific therapy for each patient based on these individual disease mechanisms.