Collaborations

Eurostars project: InSPECtion

A mass spectrometry solution for rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing in bloodstream infections

The InSPECtion consortium will develop a mass spectrometry-based diagnostic tool to rapidly determine antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial bloodstream infections (BSI). The tool will consist of a large in silico sequence database and method for detection of bacterial protein variants associated with antibiotic resistance. The project will cover bioinformatic and analytical technology developments necessary for full technical and performance validation of this clinical diagnostic product.

Partners:

European Union Innovative Training Network (ITN): aDDRess

Joint Training and Research Programme on Chromatin Dynamics & the DNA Damage Response

Defects in DNA repair trigger a number of devastating health complications ranging from developmental abnormalities to the premature onset of age-related diseases, including the metabolic syndrome, neurodegeneration and cancer. To counteract genome instability, cells have evolved a battery of DNA repair mechanisms ensuring that their genome remains functionally intact and is faithfully transmitted to progeny. Recent work reveals that DNA repair factors play additional roles in vital biological processes, including nucleosome remodeling, chromatin architecture, RNA biogenesis or the transcription activation of genes involved in cellular reprogramming and growth. These recent discoveries have pushed the DNA repair field forward and towards new grounds requiring a series of sophisticated functional and multidisciplinary approaches. Based on these novel scientific paths, we have carefully designed the “aDDRess” consortium on the basis of past excellence of the individual participants and their relevance to the proposed field. The action addresses a major research topic i.e. DNA damage in development and disease with great socioeconomic impact in Europe and direct relevance to human health.

The objectives of the program are:

• to create a European research platform of excellence in the field of DNA repair by integrating research from basic mechanisms to translational research applications,
• to establish a Network dedicated to the high-quality training of ESRs promoting their independent careers and future employment prospects,
• to transform our current successful, long-term collaborations into a stronger intellectual network and build durable links between the participating labs and the industry (SMEs). Understanding the relevance of genome maintenance pathways to human health will shed light onto the causal mechanisms of rare and widespread life-threatening diseases, including cancer.

Read more about this project on its homepage: https://www.itn-address.gr

Partners:

European Union Innovative Training Network (ITN): HealthAge

Joint Training and Research programme on Lifespan Regulation Mechanisms in Health and Disease.

Aging is an inexorable homeostatic failure of complex but largely unknown aetiology that leads to increased vulnerability to disease with enormous consequences on the quality of individual lives and the overall cost to society. Although, aging is driven by limitations in somatic maintenance, it is also subject to regulation by evolutionarily highly conserved molecular pathways. Indeed, macromolecular damage may drive the functional decline with aging; however, a battery of conserved, longevity assurance mechanisms may set the pace on how rapidly damage builds up and function is lost over time. Human efforts over the last centuries have succeeded in substantially lengthening lifespan, allowing aging to become a common feature of western societies.

However, The discouraging complexity of the aging process, the noticeable lack of tools to study it, and a shortage of experimentally tractable model systems have made it significantly challenging to unravel the molecular basis of the processes that cause loss of bodily functions and degeneration of cells and tissues with advancing age. HealthAge was carefully designed to create a joint European program of excellence in training and research with a core intellectual focus on the functional role of “Lifespan Regulation Mechanisms in Health and Disease”.

To tackle this, HealthAge combines top-level, state-of-the-art and interdisciplinary research skills that range from basic molecular mechanisms and ‘omics’ level understanding to translational research and clinical applications. This interdisciplinary strategy will allow us to gain functional insight into the fundamental mechanisms regulating longevity as well as to develop a series of rationalized intervention strategies aimed at counteracting age-related diseases.

Read more about this project on its homepage: https://itn-healthage.gr

Partners: