German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)

Neurodegenerative diseases, which include Parkinson’s disease and dementias such as Alzheimer’s, present an extremely high burden on those affected and their family members, and cause exceedingly high costs to the health-care system. In Germany, about one million people above the age of 65 are currently suffering from the consequences of dementia, and the number of new incidences is about 200,000 per year. As a result of demographic change, this situation will continue to worsen. Without new preventative measures and without developing new therapy procedures, the number of dementia patients will increase to more than four million, 40 per cent of whom will be so severely ill that they can only be cared for in nursing homes.

Thus, the federal government decided in August 2007, to set up an institute for neurodegenerative diseases.

The new 'Deutsche Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen' (DZNE) – German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases – concentrates the scientific expertise nationwide in the field of illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. As the 16th research centre of the Helmholtz Association, the DZNE is immediately apparent as being unique in two ways: First of all, it is not restricted to one location but consists of a network – the core centre in Bonn and, for the time being, six high-performance partner locations in Rostock/Greifswald, Magdeburg, Göttingen, Witten-Herdecke, Tübingen and Munich. Moreover, the DZNE is not restricted to pure research but also has its sights on the translation, in other words, the transfer to therapeutic practice – in contrast to other European research institutes in this field.