EPND was delighted to contribute to this year’s Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in London, where partners presented findings across biomarker science, technical developments, and clinical research. Read on to learn more!

The Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) took place in London from 12 to 15 July 2026, at ExCeL London and online. As the largest international conference dedicated to dementia science, AAIC brings together researchers, clinicians and policymakers from across the world. EPND partners were present throughout the four days, presenting work spanning the science, services and support developed through the project.

Biomarker research and public involvement

Two posters on the opening day came out of the EPND case studies. As well as advancing biomarker discovery, these case studies help us test the EPND platform as we build it. They examine Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies together, allowing researchers to look at where these diseases overlap and where they are distinct.

Frederika Malichova and colleagues presented their work on multi-platform proteomics for molecular subtyping in neurodegenerative disease, integrating mass spectrometry, Olink and NULISAseq data. Alongside, Sophie Mutel and colleagues presented cross-cohort gut microbiota signatures in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Neither study would be possible without the research cohorts that contribute their data and biosamples, or the partners who harmonise, analyse and coordinate the work across sites.

Molecular subtyping also featured on the plenary stage, where EPND partner Betty Tijms of Amsterdam UMC spoke on the proteomic subtypes of Alzheimer's disease and what they mean for drug development. Congratulations to Betty from all of us at EPND!

On the Monday, Sarah Campill and colleagues turned to public involvement, with a poster on creating ethical and user-friendly care pathways. Public involvement means involving people affected by neurodegenerative diseases in the research process, but not as participants. It runs throughout EPND's work, including our recent report on the principles for health data and sample sharing and re-use, developed with the Patient Expert Group.

Technical Hub and biobanking practices

On the Tuesday, Anthony Brookes (University of Leicester) presented the concept and design of the EPND Hub, our federated platform for cross-cohort neurodegenerative disease research. At the heart of the Hub is the EPND Catalogue, which includes European cohorts across the neurodegenerative disease spectrum. Researchers can discover, request access to, and analyse datasets in one place. The Hub is built on recognised standards, including GA4GH Beacon-2 and Health-DCAT, so that it works with other data platforms and is compatible with the European Health Data Space. Secure analysis runs in dedicated workspaces on the AD Data Initiative’s AD Workbench, which powers the EPND Hub.

Reliable cross-cohort research also depends on how samples are collected and handled in the first place. Inge Verberk and colleagues presented work on pre-analytical variability at scale, drawing on a study of 166 volunteers across eleven pre-analytical experiments. The poster set out how handling affects plasma proteome measurements, and introduced the suite of freely available SOPs and best practice guidelines developed by EPND, covering minimal datasets, biosample collection, biobanking and biomarker validation.

Throughout the conference, EPND partners and collaborators were at the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative booth, giving live demonstrations of the EPND Hub. Many delegates came by to see how the Hub works and to discuss their own research needs. Our thanks to the AD Data Initiative team for hosting us, and for their continued partnership!

You can explore the EPND Hub at discover.epnd.org, and browse our SOPs, reports and other resources in the News and Resources section of this website.