In order to provide the best possible care to patients with a rare condition, it is essential that global knowledge about the condition is gathered. Nationwide, centers of expertise have been set up to stimulate care for rare disorders and to gather knowledge. For the formal recognition of an expertise center by the Ministry of Health, an important condition is that the expertise center gathers, analyzes and shares knowledge through publications. These can be publications in scientific journals, but also treatment guidelines for health care professionals or information brochures for patients or caregivers. We optimize care and research within ENCORE through standardized follow-up and close collaboration between doctors and researchers. That way, we can ultimately develop better treatments for rare conditions. You may therefore be asked to participate in research. Participation in research is always on a voluntary basis. The data obtained is stored and analyzed in an anonymous form. All research has been approved in advance by an ethics review committee.
Genetic research will be performed on all patients seen in our expertise center to determine the genetic cause and to be able to support and advise the parents. If this genetic research has already been done elsewhere, it will not be done again. This genetic knowledge also helps us to better understand the effect of the genetic change ("mutation") on the severity of symptoms. We can then also investigate which treatment works best for a particular genetic change. In some cases, the genetic change is inconclusive. In these cases, the genetic change will be further investigated in the laboratory (see pre-clinical examination).
The GRIN Syndrome expertise center is still being set-up. Detailed knowledge about the course of GRIN Syndrome (what symptoms and complaints are there, and when exactly do they arise) will be collected to learn more about GRIN Syndrome. This is also very important in order to be able to recognize complaints in the future and to treat them optimally. In addition, this is very important for drug research (trials). After all, only if we can demonstrate that a new drug improves the quality of life compared to an untreated patient, will the drug actually be approved and reimbursed.
In addition to permission to record these clinical data, you may be asked to provide a tube of blood for research. This blood is used to generate iPSC (induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) for research. Brain cells can be grown from these iPS cells. See the pre-clinical research page on this website for more information about iPS research.
Do you have questions about research at ENCORE? Or do you want to participate? Please contact us via encore@erasmusmc.nl or grin.encore@erasmusmc.nl