The ENSEMBLE project is an ambitious program aiming to reliable detect cerebral palsy very early in life (before 6 months of age, whereas the diagnosis is currently made between 2 and 5 years) in order to provide patients with efficacious individualized treatment during the critical period in which brain plasticity can reorganize neural networks.
The project is a collaboration between 15 European partners who are the most prominent world experts in the field. It involves prospective clinical data collection (big data), analysis through machine learning, design and testing of a predictive model for cerebral palsy detection, and implementation of individualized therapeutic intervention (personalized medicine).
It was codesigned based on the most current physiological and technological developments by multidisciplinary experts and families with lived experience of cerebral palsy.
In addition to benefits to the children directly involved in the project, ENSEMBLE will enable wide application for children who are at risk for cerebral palsy. It will also establish a gigantic data base that can be used for future studies.
Cerebral Palsy Research Letter n°31: The ENSEMBLE Project: Earlier detection for earlier intervention