• Find people
• Intranet

News

13/05/2026 - General information

The Catalan Society of Neurology awards a project investigating whether extreme sport can help research into neurodegenerative diseases

The ENDURE project aims to explore whether ultra-endurance athletes can serve as a model for this type of disease. The study received the Grant from the Foundation of the Catalan Society of Neurology during the Society's 30th meeting, held on 7 and 8 May in Barcelona.

The project 'Molecular basis of the relationship between ultra-endurance exercise and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a proteomic approach' - the ENDURE Project - has received the Grant from the Foundation of the Catalan Society of Neurology. Presented by Dr Paula Encina Garcia, a resident in the Neurology Department at Hospital del Mar, the study was recognised at the Society's XXX annual meeting.

The project is led by Dr Encina together with Dr Joan Jiménez-Balado, data scientist and neuroscientist at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, and Dr Bernat Bertran Recasens, a neurologist specialising in neuromuscular diseases and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It was launched in 2025 and forms part of the collaboration between Hospital del Mar and the Barcelonaβeta Brain Research Center, the research centre of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, specifically with the Fluid Biomarkers and Translational Neurology Research Group, led by Dr Marc Suárez-Calvet.

Jiménez-Balado, Bernat Bertran Recasens and Paula Encina

The study explores how prolonged exposure to highly physically demanding sports, such as ultramarathons - races of more than 42 kilometres - may affect the nervous system and act as a human model of extreme chronic stress. The initial hypothesis is that the combination of intense and prolonged physical effort, sustained physiological stress and individual susceptibility factors may accelerate biological ageing processes and activate compensatory mechanisms. Understanding how the body uses these adaptation mechanisms in situations of sustained stress may help identify pathways that play a relevant role in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases.

By analysing oxidative damage, systemic inflammation, metabolic imbalance and various biomarkers of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, the researchers aim to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms that explain the impact of extreme stress on the nervous system. Ultra-endurance athletes may represent a real and reproducible model for studying how chronic stressors can alter processes of resilience, adaptation and neuronal recovery.

The project also aims to identify biomarkers associated with sustained physical stress and to generate new experimental models applicable to research on ageing, chronic stress and neurological health.

More news