The Cyprus Institute of Neurology & Genetics (CING) has been selected to participate in the AI-PROGNOSIS project, a European research and innovation initiative under the "Horizon Europe" program. 

The primary objective of this project is to enhance the diagnosis and care of patients with Parkinson's disease, which stands as the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease among the elderly. This disease significantly affects patients' functionality.

The AI-PROGNOSIS project aims to develop artificial intelligence models that will predict the risk of developing Parkinson's disease. These models will also monitor disease progression and response to medication by harnessing digital biomarkers collected from daily smart devices used by patients.

The project commenced on July 1st, 2023, and is set to conclude on June 30th, 2027. It's coordinated by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and involves 9 research centers and 7 companies from 10 EU member states, along with 2 research centers from the United Kingdom.

CING's role in the project is to assess the polygenic risk of developing the disease using existing databases. This will involve validating these databases with new patients and applying these factors to achieve the project's goals. The total funding allocated for AI-PROGNOSIS is €5.25 million, of which CING will receive €330,000. Research at the institute will be conducted by the Departments of Neurogenetics (Kyproúla Christodoulou and Paraskeví Cháirta), Neuroepidemiology (Eléni Zambá-Papanikoláou and Christiana Christodoulou), and the Biostatistics team (Kyriakí Michaílidou), concluded the announcement.