Consortium members
The Erasmus MC is committed to a healthy population and excellence in healthcare through research and education. Erasmus MC is in the top ten of best medical institutes in Europe (QS World University Ranking 2014) and excels in various research fields, studying fundamental and clinical domains as well as public health and prevention with an annual research budget of around €139.7 million. Bibliometric indicators place EMC in the top 20 of clinical medicine worldwide; its publications are cited 1.75 times the world average. In addition to scientific research, patient care and education are core tasks of EMC. It is the top referral center for a region of about five million inhabitants. EMC is also the largest medical school in the Netherlands, with ~3,500 medical students and 226 PhD graduations in 2018. Together, the students and almost 11,000 employees at EMC improve the individual patient care and public health of tomorrow.
Dr. Wendy Unger
Associate Professor
Coordinator
Lead WP4 and WP6
Dr. Wendy van Hemmen
Project manager
Co-lead WP4 and WP6
Dr. Laura Mezzanotte
Associate Professor
Dr. John Hays
Associate Professor
Trinity College was created by a royal charter in 1592 and is Ireland’s oldest and highest ranked university. It is home to 18,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across all the major disciplines in the arts and humanities, and in business, law, engineering, science, and health sciences. The University is committed to excellence in both research and teaching, to the enhancement of the learning experience of each of its students and to an inclusive Trinity community with equality of access for all. The University will continue to disseminate its knowledge and expertise to the benefit of the City of Dublin, the country, and the international community. It is ranked 37th in Pharmacy worldwide (QS World University Ranking 2021/2022). The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences mission is to lead in the discovery, development and safe use of medicines, and address the healthcare needs of patients and society; this is achieved through innovative research at the frontiers of Drugs, Medicines, Patient Care, and Health. The School’s Staff include Pharmacists, Clinicians/MDs, Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemists, Pharmacologists, Pharmacognocists, Biotechnologists, Pharmaceutical Technologists, Pharmacy Practitioners offeringa multi-disciplinary approach to basic and translational research, substantial critical mass of internationally-trained researchers bringing experience from the clinic, academia and industry, with a proven track record of successfully collaborating with small indigenous companies, SMEs and big Pharma.
Prof. Dr. Carsten Ehrhardt
Professor
Dr. Julie Renwick
Assistant Professor
Dr. Mohammed Ali Selo
PhD post-doc.
University Utrecht is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established 26th March 1636 (385 years ago), it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2021, it had an enrolment of 31,801 students, and employed 7,400 faculty and staff, 650 professors, 525 PhD degrees were awarded, and 6,948 scientific articles were published. The 2020 budget of the university was €857 million. The research in the Pharmacology group focuses on the basic mechanisms underlying communicable and non-communicable disorders and their pharmacological manipulations via drugs, biologicals and/or medical food components. The objective is to gain deeper insight into the pathways in which cells and mediators of the immune interact, aimed at developing new concepts for prevention and/or treatment with a strong focus on inflammation management and organ function homeostasis. In the group there is a unique combination of expertise in the field of immuno-pharmacology, neuro-immuno-pharmacology, psychopharmacology and regenerative pharmacology covering research in major target organs such as kidney, gastrointestinal, respiratory and nervous systems in both animals and man. The program follows an integrative multidisciplinary translational approach from molecular Pharmacology, via in vivo animal models for disease towards proof of concept clinical studies in healthy volunteers and patients.
Prof. Dr. Gert Folkerts
Professor
Deputy Coordinator
Lead WP5
Prof.Dr. Tom Wennekes
Professor
Dr. Saskia Braber
Researcher
Prof. Dr. Holger Garn
Dr. Sarah Miethe
PhD post-doc.
University of Stavanger (UOS) on the Southwest Coast of Norway is situated in the most attractive region in the country, with some 300,000 inhabitants. UOS has an innovative and international profile and is a driving force in knowledge development and in the process of societal change. Priority areas for UOS include green transition, energy, health and welfare, lifelong learning, an open university, and a good learning and working environment. Academic life at UOS is organised into six faculties comprising various departments/schools and National Research Centres, as well as the Museum of Archaeology. The university also has a unit for lifelong learning. Many of the externally financed research activities are performed in cooperation with our research institute NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS. UOS currently hosts around 12,000 students, 1,900 employees and 415 PhD candidates and was recently ranked 410-500 by Times Higher Education.
Prof. Dr. Magne Olav Sydnes
Professor
Lead WP1
Emil Lindback
The Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) is a research institute owned by the Government of Catalonia adscribed to the Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of the Generalitat de Catalunya. IRTA institute has a large staff of researchers from different disciplines related to animal health and production. The IRTA center participating in this proposal is IRTA-CReSA, which opened in 2005 and is IRTA’s Animal Health Program, within the Animal Production Area. Research within this Program includes endemic and exotic diseases, and epidemiology and risk analysis. Its objective is to conduct research and development programmes in the field of animal health, transfer to the sector the scientific advances achieved, provide services in the field of research and technological development, through concerted R&D programmes, advise companies in the agri-food sector, the public administration and provide technological support in the field of animal health, and organize scientific and technical training programmes.
Dr. Marta Cerdà-Cuéllar
Researcher
Lead WP2
Dr. Karl Kochanowski
PhD, Researcher
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) is a Foundation governed by the Italian Civil Code and financed by the State to conduct scientific research in the public interest, for the purpose of technological development. IIT aim, as stated in the Foundation Statute, is to promote excellence in basic and applied research and to promote the development of the national economy. IIT Strategic Plan (2018-2023) consists of four Research Domains: Computational Sciences, , Robotics, Nanomaterials, LifeTech. The construction of IIT’s laboratories began in 2006 and ended in 2009. Nowadays IIT’s organization revolves around the Central Research Laboratories in Genoa, a network of 11 centers throughout Italy nested in the most important Italian universities and 2 oustations in the USA in collaboration with MIT and Harvard. IIT staff comprises ~ 1900 people from more than 60 countries with an average age of 35 years. Female staff is more than 40%. IIT has almost 80 PIs and 8 facility coordinators. IIT independent financial resources from fund-raising activities have amounted to approximately 384 M€ with 324 European Active project since 2006 (133 European Active project as in April 2021). Since 2006: >15.500 publications and > 350k citations (Scopus – Elsevier B.V.). IIT Technology Transfer activity has led to 1116 active patents so far, 26 Start-ups launched, and 50+ Start-ups projects and Business Ideas under due diligence. The IIT Center for Human Technologies (CHT@IIT) research activities are focused on technologies for human health, rehabilitation and human-machine interaction. This interdisciplinary Center hosts teams with different backgrouds to achieve a multicultural synergistic approach to healthcare. The CHT approach is based on a multidisciplinary vision in collaboration with research hospitals and clinical institutions, in order to design and develop new technologies or improve the existing ones. IIT is not a degree-awarding body. PhD students are registered in a number of Italian & International Universities IIT has agreements with, and the Universities award the degree, in addition of being ultimately responsible for the organizational and training aspects of the PhD. IIT provides the research environment and finances the bursaries that the Universities will eventually award to the students, after a public selection process. IIT have also launched (2021) an IIT-managed doctoral programme in collaboration with the Open University as a quality control- and degree awarding body. This programme is delivered through an Affiliated Research Centre (ARC@IIT). The PhD programme confers Doctorates in Health, Sustainable and Human Technologies, with research activities carried out in the framework of the ARC@IIT in Genova.
Dr. Walter Rocchia
Senior Researcher
Dr. Sara Fortuna
Researcher
TissueGnostics (TG), is a producer of automated analysis systems for tissue, cultured cells and cell smears. It was founded in 2003 and consists of the headquarters (based is in Vienna, 14 full time employees) and 2 subsidiaries, one in Iasi, Romania (13 full time employees, primarily involved in software development) and the second daughter in Tarzana, California (2 full time employees responsible for support, marketing and sales). Additional sales offices are in China, South Africa and Australia. The TG product line consists of microscope based bright field, fluorescence, confocal, or multi-spectral scanners with a slide capacity of 1 to 120 slides. In addition, TG is the producer of image processing software for clinical diagnosis and research.
Prof. Dr. Rupert Ecker
CEO
Dr. Felicitas Mungenast
Senior Product Manager
HYLOMORPH, headquartered at Technopark Zurich, Switzerland, is a Medtech Start-up company, spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). It specializes in cutting-edge combination of micro-engineering and biotechnology into innovative biomaterials for healthcare products. HYLO’s core technology optimizes the interface between implantable medical devices and biological tissues. The main aim of the company is to prevent post-operative complications in implantable medical devices and to improve quality of life in patients and the quality of care by health professionals. Its proprietary CellSense technology was developed in the cutting-edge laboratories of ETH Zurich. HYLO’s first product, Hylomate, has demonstrated outstanding performance in limiting the foreign body reaction and fibrotic build-up in pre-clinical settings and is currently undergoing first-in-man clinical trials in 3 clinical centres in Germany including the German Cardiac Center Berlin, the Charité Berlin, and the Immanuel-Albertinen Hospital in Bernau.
Dr. Aldo Ferrari
CSO,
Lead WP3
Prof. Dr. Massimo Vassalli
UoG
Dr. Simone Bottan
CEO
Dr. Francesco Robotti
Co-founder & COO
SetLance is a micro-company based in Siena, Italy, focusing its activity in chemical synthesis of peptides and their biologic characterization. SetLance main activities are presently concentrated on: 1) identification, production, characterization and preclinical development of antimicrobial peptides; 2) construction of peptide-based medical device for the selective removal of bacteria and bacterial toxins from the blood of sepsis patients; 3) identification and characterization of anti-inflammatory peptides able to neutralize the over expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Prof. Dr. Alessandro Pini
Co-founder
President of the Executive Board
Prof. Dr. Chiara Falciani
Co-founder
Member of Executive Board
InBiose, founded in 2013 as a spinoff from the University of Ghent, is now the biggest private research group in the world of specialty glycan. It is a leading B2B Biotech Company with focus on the development of specialty glycans, in particular Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) and on developing cost-effective processes for large scale HMO production, based on our proprietary GlycoActives® technology. It has a team of 50 highly skilled and committed, mainly bio-engineers and bio-informatics. InBiose is dedicated to developing specialty glycans that are known to influence health, either directly or indirectly through modulation of the microbiome and the immunity. It has a technology platform based on latest advancements into biotech, bio-informatics and health sciences, which strive to make these specialty glycans available for mainstream uses, minimizing time to market, to the benefit of all. Synergy: Under the collaboration between Inbiose and other host institutes (mainly UU and UU2), DCs will have access to research facilities and know-how in the field of glycan engineering and their applications.
Dr. Ut Nguyen Van
Innovation manager
Dr. Tom Verhaeghe
Researcher
Dr. Joeri Beauprez
Researcher
Aquilon Pharmaceuticals (AQU) S.A. (13 FTE), a Belgian private company and spin-off of Liège University, is specialized in the improvement of the efficacy of inhaled drugs. Aquilon Pharma has developed a technology concept that improves the pharmacology and the lung deposition of existing drugs. The developed formulations, inhalation solutions and powders, are compatible with most of the existing and innovative inhalation devices. Aquilon Pharma is reformulating drugs with cyclodextrins as functional excipient to make inhaled drugs much more efficient through better lung deposition. Aquilon Pharma is running 6 in-house projects to treat mainly asthma, COPD and ACO(S). Aquilon’s flagship product is AQ1001S (ICS), which commercialization should be launched by 2027. Other products under development are AQ1102M (ICS LABA) which can be combined to new breakthrough softmist inhalers; AQ1102P to be combined with dry powder inhalers. Aquilon is also focusing on products for nasal applications (AQ0000N & AQ1001N) which should be commercialized from 2024-2025. Other additional combinations of molecules are in the portfolio and under investigation. Aquilon Pharma also aims at setting-up ab initio partnering to co-develop formulations thanks to external funding. Aquilon Pharma is currently starting clinical studies and its value will grow rapidly as its pipeline will reach phases I, II and III. Synergy: AQU will employ their technology to evaluate the potential of the project outcomes for administration by inhalation. This will increase application roll-out for the project.
Dr. Natacha Rocks
Scientific and Preclinical Operations Officer
Paul Maes
CEO
Prof. Dr. Didier Cataldo, MD
Co-Founder
Pneumologist
Dr. Stefan Wecker
CEO
Johannes Wecker
CFO
Anitom (ANIT) was established in 2019 as a contract research organization. ANIT offers R&D support and consultancy related to research and innovations in livestock with focus on: alternatives for antimicrobials and overall reduction of antibiotic usage in livestock, disease prevention and monitoring, alternative feed-protein sources, food safety pathogens, sustainable agriculture/ animal production and animal welfare. ANIT can provide specific protocol development for trials, project-proposal writing and project management. ANIT has their own facilities for animal trials in poultry. Synergy: ANIT will evaluate the potential of the project outcomes as potential treatment for poultry. This will increase application roll-out for the project.
Dr. Anniek Bus
Researcher
DVM
Dr. Tommy van Limbergen
Managing Director
