The topics covered for the 2011 call for research proposals were:

Key Research Topics

• Well characterized leukodystrophies*:

Preclinical & clinical studies testing gene, cell, enzyme or pharmacological therapies – Improved animal and cell models close to the human disease phenotype
Studies on pathogenesis mechanisms in leukodystrophies will be considered only if they have a clear objective towards the development of therapeutic strategies (identifying novel and druggable targets, development & characterization of experimental models allowing drug screening), and/or are of exceptional and innovative quality, and are fundable for a maximum of 2 years.

• Poorly characterized leukodystrophies**:

High-throughput screening for identification of biomarkers - Study of natural history using clinical databases and biobanks - Development of animal or cell models – Studies of pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic approaches

• Leukodystrophies of unknown cause:

Identification of disease-causing genes – Assembling cohorts using clinical databases and biobanks

• Myelin repair: Therapies promoting remyelination in preclinical animal models of leukodystrophy

*Such as adrenoleukodystrophy/adrenomyeloneuropathy, metachromatic leukodystrophy, Krabbe disease, Canavan disease, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease
**Those with recently identified genes or with genes of unknown functions