Leadership Enablement, Analysis & Dissemination for the CORDELIA and LIGHT projects, two key meta-cohorts to study the genetic and lifestyle determinants of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality

DESCRIPTION

 

This proposal consolidates and accelerates the 2025 tasks that will enable my work as the CORDELIA network’s scientific coordinator in 2027 and the delivery of open, high-impact outputs in the LIGHT project. CORDELIA is Spain’s largest cardiometabolic meta-cohort (196,000 participants, 100,000 of whom have genotype and lifestyle data; it is expected to present its final results by the end of 2026), and the backbone for the LIGHT project (my current Marie Curie-Sklodowska Fellowship, in which I will determine which genotype-lifestyle interactions significantly impact all-cause mortality in the Spanish population using CORDELIA data). The tasks in CORDELIA-LEAD cover a range of strategic expenses across both projects: 1) co-financing hiring costs for scientific collaborators who will participate in the harmonization of lifestyle data in CORDELIA/LIGHT; 2) access to UK Biobank data for validation of the results of the LIGHT project (Tier 2 access to UK Biobank); 3) covering the Open Access article processing charges for one CORDELIA manuscript; 4) covering the expenses to produce audiovisual materials for the projects; 5) and covering the costs of certain assays and the mandatory preventive maintenance of scientific equipment used for several determinations in CORDELIA. The actions proposed in the CORDELIA-LEAD project align with URL’s strategic axes (research excellence, inter-institutional collaboration between URL and the Hospital del Mar Research Institute-HMRIB, Open Science, societal impact in health, and researcher training) and directly support my transition to become the meta-cohort coordinator in 2027 through 2025 leadership, harmonization, and dissemination milestones.

 

 

OBJECTIVES

 

1. Formalize my 2025 responsibilities as the future coordinator of the CORDELIA network (chair/secretariat support to the Harmonization Committee, standard operating procedures, and data governance touchpoints).

2. Finalize the harmonization of lifestyle data in CORDELIA (leisure-time physical activity, smoking, alcohol, dietary habits) and the logistics and quality control of the genotype data needed for CORDELIA/LIGHT analyses (DNA extraction/QC/quantification/shipping).

3. Validate the findings of the first phase of the LIGHT project in UK Biobank (by obtaining UK Biobank Tier 2 access and setting up initial variable dictionaries and analysis shells to benchmark LIGHT findings)

3. Ensure Open Access publication of a CORDELIA-related manuscript (PMID 40353978) and produce two scientific-outreach videos linked to CORDELIA/LIGHT (education for clinicians/students and public)

 

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WORK PLAN

 

WP0. Management & governance. Monthly coordination meetings with HMRIB, chair tasks for the Harmonization Committee of the CORDELIA Project, development of the Data Management Plan for the LIGHT project, preparation of 2026-27 coordination transition pieces (agendas, risk logs).

WP1. Harmonization of lifestyle data in CORDELIA/LIGHT. Finalization of the leisure-time physical activity/smoking/alcohol/diet harmonization maps and calculation of polygenic risk scores with CORDELIA data.

WP2. Validation of findings of the LIGHT project in UK Biobank. UK Biobank onboarding (Tier 2 request, project setup in the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform, creation of variable dictionaries, minimal test analyses to ensure comparability with CORDELIA/LIGHT), and data analysis.

WP3. Laboratory logistics. Continuation of DNA processing (extraction, quality control, quantification) and shipments to the Centro Nacional de Genotipado; preventive maintenance services for equipment used in CORDELIA tasks.

WP4. Dissemination & Outreach. Open-access publication of the CORDELIA-related article (PMID 40353978); two short educational videos (script, filming, editing, subtitling) aligned with LIGHT’s communication plan

 

 

TEAM SUITABILITY

 

This project applies for funding to continue essential tasks toward becoming the scientific coordinator and Principal Investigator of the CORDELIA project in 2027. This project will generate national and international collaborations and build a database that could be potentially used in research projects linked to the URL and its participating institutions. One of the PhD students currently supervised by me (an URL PhD student, Eleonora Fornara, a member of the research team) is using CORDELIA data and will collaborate with the project tasks. In addition, a successful completion of the CORDELIA-LEAD project will allow new PhD projects like hers to be set up at the URL and the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences. The project will also help cover the expenses of some part-time researchers working within the CORDELIA project in the collaborating institution (HMRIB), such as Dr. Karla Alejandra Pérez-Vega. Dr. Anna Camps-Vilaró, also from HMRIB, plays a pivotal role in the scientific coordination of these projects and will collaborate closely on the tasks of the CORDELIA-LEAD initiative. Finally, Dr. Marta Hernández, a lecturer at the Blanquerna School of Health Sciences-URL, will collaborate on the project tasks. In brief, following the indications of the present call, the CORDELIA-LEAD project involves an interdisciplinary team of women researchers (with expertise in genetic epidemiology, lifestyle research, and public health) and explicitly addresses sex-specific analyses and inclusive communication.

 

 

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

 

1. Documented leadership activities (meeting minutes, agendas, tracking of action items) that de-risk my 2027 coordinator transition. Expected date: December 2025

2. Data Management Plan for the LIGHT project. Expected date: November 2025.

3. Summary of harmonization of lifestyle variables in CORDELIA (descriptive values, number of participants with QC’d data, performance). Expected date: December 2025

4. UK Biobank Tier 2 access approved, Research Analysis Platform project initialized, and variable dictionary + comparability report vs. CORDELIA/LIGHT. Expected date: December 2025

5. Genotype logistics summary in CORDELIA (% DNA extracted/QC’d; % with final genotypes). Expected date: December 2025

5. Final code for the calculation of polygenic risk scores in CORDELIA. Expected date: December 2025

6. Open-access publication of the cohort profile manuscript of the CORDELIA project. Expected date: December 2025

7. Two outreach videos (didactic, subtitled) aligned with LIGHT’s communication plan. Expected date: December 2025