The Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, the University of Gdańsk, and the Fahrenheit Universities have signed an agreement leading to the creation of the Fahrenheit Universities' Translational Brain Diseases Centre.
The initiative aims to strengthen collaboration among research teams from all the three universities in the field of neuroscience, with a strong emphasis on projects designed for clinical applications.

The Centre will bring together interdisciplinary research groups spanning fields such as biology, psychology, engineering, and mathematics – united by a shared interest in pursuing fundamental projects with potential for clinical implementation. The establishment of the Centre builds on expanding collaboration between the MUG's Division of Adult Neurology, the Gdańsk Tech’s Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, Gdańsk Tech’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, as well as the UG’s Department of Molecular Biology.

The development priorities of the Translational Brain Diseases Centre include, for example, the use of molecular biology research methods in combination with experimental modelling, both in vitro and in vivo, in the study of neurodegenerative diseases. Equally important is the application of mathematical modelling, deep learning, and artificial intelligence to streamline diagnostics and advance personalised treatment approaches for brain diseases. At the core of the Centre's mission lies the concept of translational projects –from bench to bedside – which requires close collaboration between experts from disciplines that are often seen as unrelated. Many of these fields are still underrepresented or only selectively present in medical universities.

The Centre is open to any project whose primary goal is to develop a clinically applicable diagnostic tool, therapeutic method, or – especially compelling at this stage of the progress of medicine – a computational application that will significantly enhance the personalization of treatment using tools already available to us, clinicians – explains Prof. Bartosz Karaszewski, Head of the MUG’s Department of Neurology and Division of Adult Neurology and the driving force behind the establishment of the Fahrenheit Universities’ Translational Brain Diseases Centre. The concept was presented during a session of the Assembly of the Fahrenheit Universities where the concept was met with strong interest.
The Centre represents an evolution of the Gdańsk Medical University’s existing Brain Diseases Centre, established in 2022 as part of the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme”. The agreement establishing the Translational Brain Diseases Centre is the first joint initiative of its kind among the three institutions making up the Fahrenheit Universities. The draft agreement was developed through close collaboration between the sciences – the representatives from each university: Prof. Bartosz Karaszewski (MUG), Prof. Grzegorz Węgrzyn, Head of the UG’s Department of Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Biology, Prof. Anna Stanisławska-Sachadyn, Associate Professor of the Gdańsk Tech, Head of the Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology at the Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, and a team of the Fahrenheit Universities and the MUG's Excellence Initiative – Research University (IDUB) Office. The Centre is open to all research initiatives aligned with the principle of translationality in neuroscience.

Photo 1. Jarosław Praszkiewicz; photos 2 and 3 – private archives

This press release is prepared by the originators of the initiative.