The Network of Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation involves 24 highly specialised Italian Institutes for Research and Care (IRCCS) and is focussed on the sharing of knowledge, protocols, and data to promote the standardisation and optimisation of patients’ clinical care and therapeutic strategies. The network comprises clinicians and researchers who co-operate in order to create a multidisciplinary platform that can improve the medical care of patients. The main purpose is to promote the use of genomic knowledge in clinical practice. In addition, the Network allows the centralisation of genetic analyses, the sharing of analytical and instrumental data, the development of standardised protocols, the creation of standardised informed consent procedures, the creation of a genomic variants database, the evaluation of variants of uncertain significance, the sharing of guidelines for the management of genetic data and the characterisation of different sub-phenotypes. In particular, the overall data will be utilised for increasing the effectiveness of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. Furthermore, the collected information will be analysed, taking into account genetic features, lifestyles, and the environment of patients. The overall data will be employed for the development of a disease-specific atlas characterised by genomic variations related to the onset, complications, or outcomes of neurological diseases. The disease-specific atlas will be updated by the recording of dynamic data, collected not only at the time of enrolment, but also during follow-up evaluations. Moreover, the development of web-based platforms will facilitate the sharing and analysis of clinical and genomic data. Additionally, the information sharing among the network will enable the interpretation of genomic variants with unknown significance.
This approach is used to improve the genotype–phenotype correlation in neurological disorders, as well as to disclose novel pharmacogenomic biomarkers. The Network allows the integration of clinical and genomic data (‘clinomic’), leading to better characterisation of patients. Indeed, the clinomic provided by the IRCCS Institutes will be used to improve the medical care of patients in the field of neuroimages, genomics, proteomics, and tele-neurorehabilitation. Furthermore, this approach will allow the collection and dissemination of evidence of effectiveness and the costs and benefits for the main technologies in the field of diagnosis and prevention based on genomics. Specific proposals and guidelines will be published regarding the development and selection of more appropriate healthcare services for precision medicine applied to neurodegenerative disorders.
The collaboration among the IRCCS Network currently supports innovative research programmes on neurodegenerative disorders, stimulating and promoting the genomic and epigenomic translational studies.
