Bonn, June 9th, 2021. Katja Dörner, Mayor of the City of Bonn, today paid her inaugural visit to the DZNE at its Venusberg site in Bonn. She was informed about the Center's important contribution to combating one of the central health challenges in Germany.
Pierluigi Nicotera, Chairman of the Board of the DZNE, and Sabine Helling-Moegen, Administrative Director, presented the outstanding contribution of the Centre in the fight against dementia to the Mayor who took office in November. As one of the world's leading institutions, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases is at the forefront of the search for prevention strategies and therapies against this widespread disease. It thus forms an important pillar of Bonn as a key hub of research, attracting excellent scientists from all over the world in the field of neuroscience as well.
More than 1.6 million people in this country already suffer from the fatal disease, the most common form of which is Alzheimer's dementia. Projections indicate that this number will rise to around 3 million by 2060. Mayor Dörner therefore supports the commitment of the DZNE and the citizens of Bonn with full belief: "Dementia is a challenge for the entire society. As Mayor, I am therefore particularly pleased that the DZNE, one of the most important research institutions on this topic, is based in Bonn, and that the people of Bonn also contribute directly to the success of this research with their already numerous participation in the Rhineland Study. I encourage further commitment here and to jointly confront this challenge for generations!"
More than 5,000 people from Bonn are already directly involved in the fight against this challenge as participants in the DZNE's Rhineland Study: by undergoing closely monitored examinations over many years, they enable conclusions to be drawn about which factors are important for healthy ageing.
Pierluigi Nicotera is pleased about the support, but also takes the opportunity to express his wishes for better research funding to the politician: "Dementia research today is where cancer research was 30 years ago. Today, many forms of cancer are much better curable than they were back then, because for many years an enormous amount of effort has gone into researching them. To solve the problem of dementia in the long term, we also need more resources for research on existing models - but above all more courage for innovative research approaches and ideas."
The DZNE and the people in Bonn are making an important contribution here - which can become even greater through targeted funding.