DZNE — German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Overview
The German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) is a German national research centre for neurodegenerative diseases, member of the Helmholtz Association. With sites across nine German cities, DZNE investigates all aspects of neurodegeneration from molecular mechanisms to epidemiology and clinical care.
DZNE is a founding member of the CURE-ND alliance.
Open Science Initiatives
Open Access Policy
DZNE follows the Helmholtz Association Open Access policy, which mandates open access publication for all publicly funded research.
Open Data Cohorts
DZNE leads and participates in several major longitudinal cohort studies with structured data-sharing components:
| Study | Description | Data sharing |
|---|---|---|
| DELCODE | DZNE Longitudinal Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Study; MCI/early AD; multimodal neuroimaging and biomarkers | Structured access for collaborators |
| LICA | Longitudinal Imaging of the DZNE Network; MRI across DZNE sites | Internal and collaborative |
| NAKO | German National Cohort (co-participation); 200,000 participants; imaging substudies | Application-based access |
| DESCRIBE | Dementia registry; clinical characterisation | Collaborative |
EBRAINS Contribution
DZNE researchers are active contributors to EBRAINS infrastructure, sharing neuroimaging data, computational models, and analytical workflows.
Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC)
DZNE participates in the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration, a Helmholtz-wide initiative for FAIR metadata management and cross-discipline data findability. HMC aligns with FAIR Principles and RDA working groups.
JPND Participation
DZNE is an active participant in JPND (Joint Programme — Neurodegenerative Disease Research), the primary European transnational funding framework for neurodegeneration.
Connections
- memberOf: CURE-ND
- relatedTo: EBRAINS (DZNE researchers contribute neuroimaging data, models, and analytical workflows to EBRAINS)
- relatedTo: EOSC (DZNE aligns with EOSC via the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration and EOSC-compatible data practices)
- relatedTo: BBMRI-ERIC (DZNE biobanks contribute to BBMRI-ERIC.de, the German BBMRI national node)
- relatedTo: JPND (DZNE is an active participant in JPND transnational calls for neurodegeneration research)

