Progetti di ricerca

Immunotherapies promise to be the major break-through in the treatment of metastatic cancer, but effectiveness is limited to few cancer types. Metastatic neuroblastoma, breast and prostate cancer, affecting approximately 300,000 EU-27 inhabitants of all age groups in 2020, respond not or very… Leggi tutto poorly to current immunotherapies. To establish more effective immunotherapies, we need to better understand the specific tumour cell-immune host interactions at the metastatic site. The Mac4Me Doctoral Network adopts an innovative, multidisciplinary and cross-sectional approach, with a unique and dedicated research training programme to equip young researchers with scientific knowledge and transferable skills that are essential for today’s great demand in both academic and non-academic sectors. Mac4Me aims to understand the tumour cell-immune host interactions at the metastatic site. with an in-depth molecular and mechanistic understanding of the immune and matrix changesinduced by tumour cells. We will use innovative animal-free organ-on-chip systems, that recapitulate early metastasis formation of brain, bone and liver. The retrieved knowledge from the preclinical models will be integrated in data from established clinical metastases and AI machine learning algorithms will be applied to identify new immune targets. Mac4Me will align with patients and the general public from the very beginning thereby bringing societal expectations and patient needs into the centre of the project to pave the way for new standards for shared decision making and acceptable health care solutions. Mac4Me will prepare a next generation of young scientists to start their own career as independent researchers being equipped with scientific knowledge and personal skills and integrating participatory science as a starting point to address the societal demand for more effective treatment solutions for incurable metastatic disease, such as neuroblastoma, breast and prostate cancer.

In 2035, cancer will have become the leading cause of death in the EU. In line with the Horizon Europe Plan to Beat Cancer, one of the five Horizon Missions, the PRESSURE network sets out to train 10 future experts… Leggi tutto who will push the development and clinical implementation of effective treatments and policies against therapy resistance in cancer. This innovative project will specifically focus on esophageal adenocarcinoma as one of the most complex cancer types in terms of resistance, and most urgently in need of novel solutions. Prominent factors that contribute to the poor outcome of esophageal cancer are a high degree of acquired resistance, and heterogeneous responses to the available therapies. Despite this knowledge, there are currently no consensus treatments for this disease in the EU, and there is insufficient awareness of the need for a unified low-risk treatment strategy. Numerous different regimens are currently given across the continent, and as a result highly divergent outcomes of EAC are observed. This adds to Cancer Inequalities in Europe. To address this, PRESSURE researchers will receive exhaustive intersectoral training, and deliver high-quality knowledge, across the entire value chain: Epidemiology, imaging, patient-derived model systems, resistance mechanisms, diagnostics, patient-centricity, valorization, and treatment. By receiving this diverse training, the ESRs will become next generation thinkers and problem-solvers, and will be able to deliver creative contributions to all fields involved in the combatting of cancer with unique solutions applicable in the clinic and society. This combination of complementary research expertise and rich training is not currently offered in an EU network.

Glycans are carbohydrate structures ubiquitously found on the surface of cells and take part in many biological processes, including cell signaling and neoplasia. Research on glycans is challenging in part due to the limited availability of biologically relevant synthetic glycans and to… Leggi tutto technical challenges in the analysis of glycan-protein interactions. Glycans also exhibit key roles in viral infections, mediating virus attachment and entry. Human noroviruses (NoVs) are the major cause of viral gastroenteritis and foodborne illnesses causing morbidity, mortality and economic losses. NoV infections are self-limiting in healthy individuals but are associated with severe complications in immunocompromised individuals, the elderly and young children. In addition, frequently occurring new NoV genotypes and variants can cause large outbreaks and epidemics worldwide. Very little is known about NoV infections in most non-human hosts and the close genetic similarities between some animal and human NoVs leads to the realistic hypothesis that the virus might jump the species barrier triggering pandemic variants. Importantly, no therapy is currently available to treat or prevent NoV infections. The requirement for NoVs to attach to specific glycans to infect hosts’ tissues, and cells, has been well established but the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Going beyond the state-of-the-art, the overall aims of GlycoNoVi is training 9 researchers to address knowledge gaps on NoV glycan interactions and investigate the exciting possibility of developing synthetic glycans as antiviral strategies to treat NoV infection. These aims will be achieved bringing together 5 academic and 3 industrial leaders in glycoscience, glycovirology and NoV field and relying on a multidisciplinary and interconnected approach which is declinate in research-oriented WP1-5 and WP6-8 focused respectively on training, outreach and coordination