ERC grants and other EU projects
The European Research Council (ERC) promotes pioneering research and awards grants worth millions to outstanding scientists for ground-breaking projects.
- BMBF/EU-Verbund
- UNITE4TB - Academia and industry united innovation and treatment for tuberculosis
- Scientific Director
- Prof. Dr. Michael Hoelscher
- Institution
- Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine
- Funding
- 2021 to 2028
- Website
- Project in CORDIS
- Topics
- As with many bacterial diseases, tuberculosis has been hit by drug resistance, threatening the efficacy of existing treatments. Although there are new drugs for clinical evaluation, testing the different combinations is time-consuming and requires a concerted effort. The EU-funded UNITE4TB project brings together experts in the field to design and set new standards for tuberculosis Phase II clinical trials. The team will take advantage of existing networks across continents to recruit patients in trials and introduce state-of-the-art microbiology methods and machine learning technologies. Data on biomarkers and clinical pharmacology will accompany the validation of the new drugs to ensure their subsequent success down the drug discovery pipeline.
Source: CORDIS
- ERA-NET
- NeuroPain - Precision Neuromodulation for Chronic Pain: Integrating Functional MRI and Focused Ultrasound for Personalized Treatment
- Speaker
- Dr. Enrico Schulz
- Institution
- Department of Radiology
- Funding
- since 2025
- Website
- Project Description: ERA-NET
- Topics
- Chronic pain is a complex and debilitating condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Its diverse manifestations, both between and within individuals, underscore the need for novel, personalized therapeutic approaches. The proposed project combines functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and focused ultrasound (FUS) to develop an innovative two-step approach for treating chronic pain. By using neuroimaging to localize pain-relevant brain regions and high-precision neuromodulation, our research aims to advance personalized medicine in the treatment of chronic pain. In a placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study, each participant (12 women/12 men) with chronic pain will receive three FUS interventions: 1) general cortical targeting (e.g., the anterior insula), 2) personalized targeting, and 3) sham stimulation as a placebo control. Over the course of five sessions, fMRI is used to reliably map individually specific cortical regions that correlate with pain perception. Participants then undergo several FUS sessions to evaluate the efficacy of targeted neuromodulation in reducing the intensity of chronic pain. The novelty of the study lies in its personalized approach, which combines state-of-the-art neuroimaging with non-invasive neuromodulation to account for the heterogeneity of chronic pain.
Source: neuron-eranet
- ERA-NET
- VasOx - Role of oxidative stress for neuro-vascular function
- Speaker
- Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Plesnila
- Institution
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD)
- Funding
- since 2022
- Website
- Projektbeschreibung ERA-NET
- Topics
- Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a detrimental role upon reperfusion from cerebral ischemia, the current standard therapy for ischemic stroke. The exact vascular and cellular mechanisms of this "reperfusion injury", however, remains largely unknown due to the lack of methodology to measure ROS in vivo and the lack of animal models which allow the controlled temporal and spatial induction of ROS. The current project will use novel multicistronic chemogenetic technology to measure and induce ROS in a cell specific manner in vivo. These chemogenetic tools will be used in combination with in vivo 2-photon microscopy and single cell transcriptomics to 1) measure ROS in a mouse stroke model in cells of the neurovascular unit (NVU) in order to identify the cellular source of ROS production during reperfusion from cerebral ischemia, 2) to induce ROS production in the NVU of healthy animals in order to identify the specific role of ROS for neurovascular function and dysfunction, and 3) to identify genes induced by cell-specific ROS production. The results of the current project will identify the temporal and cellular profile of ROS production after cerebral ischemia and decipher the underlying gene expression thereby defining novel molecular and cellular targets for future precision medicine therapeutics for stroke patients.
Source: neuron-eranet
- ERA-NET
- BiotaBB - Modulation of brain barrier function by microbiota-derived factors in cerebral ischemia
- Speaker
- Dr. Corinne Benakis
- Institution
- Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD)
- Funding
- since 2022
- Website
- Project in ERA-NET
- Topics
- The aim of our project ?BiotaBrainBarrier? is to investigate the role of microbiota-derived factors in restoring compromised brain barrier function in cerebral ischemia. Recent evidence identifies the gut microbiota as a modulator of brain function in health and diseases also by acting on the different brain barriers ? the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and meninges. To date, it remains uninvestigated whether gut metabolites affect the dysfunction of brain barriers in stroke. Here we will combine the unique and complementary expertise of three laboratories: Experimental models of microbiota regulation in cerebral ischemia (Benakis, Germany), in vitro models of human gut and brain barriers (Mustafaoglu, Turkey), and therapeutic approaches in stroke patients (Hirt, Switzerland). The combined added value will allow us to address the following objectives: 1) Test microbial metabolites in modulating immune cell brain infiltration at the meningeal barrier; 2) Investigate underlying biological mechanisms of microbial metabolites on BBB and stroke outcome; 3) Correlate findings from an exploratory clinical trial using a microbial metabolite. Results derived from this original proposal have the great potential to provide new knowledge on brain barrier regulation in the context of stroke by critically probing the microbiota-derived component, bringing a novel target for developing innovative therapeutic strategies for individuals with cerebrovascular diseases.
Source: neuron-eranet
- ERA-NET
- IMMOSCAN - The role of IMMuneOSteoclasts in CANcer – Implications for therapy
- Speaker
- Prof. Dr. Hanna Taipaleenmäki
- Institution
- Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine
- Funding
- since 2022
- Website
- Project in ERA-LEARN
- Topics
- Primary and secondary bone tumors affect patients from children to elderly. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, bone tumors are incurable and thus, new therapies are needed. In the bone microenvironment (ME), cancer cells disrupt the physiological balance between bone forming osteoblasts, bone resorbing osteoclasts (OCs) and immune cells, leading to excessive OC-mediated bone destruction. Beyond resorbing bone, OCs have recently been identified as innate immune cells with subsets prone to immune suppression, which might create a permissive ME for cancer and resistance to immunotherapies. Consistently, our results from single cell RNA deep sequencing (scRNAdSeq) revealed an OC population with low expression of bone resorption genes and high abundance of immune checkpoint molecules. Furthermore, analysis of patient biopsies from bone tumors uncovered abundant OCs distant from bone surface. These cells are unlikely to resorb bone but might have an immunomodulatory role. Based on these findings the hypothesis of IMMOSCAN is that immunosuppressive OCs (IsOCs) create a cancer permissive ME in bone and thus, targeting IsOCs might be a novel therapeutic strategy to limit tumor growth in bone. To address this hypothesis, we aim to i) identify and characterize IsOCs in the bone-cancer ME, ii) determine the origin, function and molecular mechanism of IsOCs and iii) target the IsOCs to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy and control tumor progression. Patient samples will be a base of all aims ensuring clinical relevance. Experimentally, we will use scRNAdSeq and latest bone imaging techniques to characterize OC subpopulations in the bone-cancer ME. Mechanistic insights will be elucidated by cell- and molecular biology and novel therapeutic strategies to target IsOCs will be explored in pre-clinical models. In-depth phenotyping of IsOCs and identification of targetable pathways may allow the suppression of their expansion by innovative immune therapy in bone cancers.
Quelle: era-learn