Objective
One of the major tasks the Life Science industry faces in the coming years is to validate a plethora of targets for treatment of various diseases and the identification of novel lead compounds to generate novel pharmaceutics specifically acting on the targets identified. "CanTrain" will train both early and experienced researchers in the methodologies necessary for drug development, including target identification, target validation, development of cell-based screening assays all of which is caused by fungal pathogens, especially strategies for the identification of novel antifungal drugs. Fungal infections have increased largely in the recent years, mostly due to immuno- compromised patients in intensive care units.
Despite intensive therapy, a high proportion of these patients contract systemic mycosis. CanTrain attempts to establish approaches leading to the development of novel anti-fungal compounds by combining the expertise of 11 partners in cellular sensor systems and signalling pathways controlling morph ogenesis and virulence, model systems for host-pathogen interaction, assay development and drug screening technologies. This network will not only give insight into mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions in general, but also bridge the gap between the identification of potential target proteins from the pathogen required for colonisation and infection of the host. CanTrain will enable the identification of antifungal compounds by establishing intelligent cell-based screening assays considering the host environment.
These cell-based screening assays will employ reporter genes activated by signalling pathways required for pathogenesis. The experimental approaches of CanTrain comprise state-of-the-art technologies, including global transcriptome and proteome analysis of pathogens during the infection process using in vitro host-pathogen tissue systems.
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugs
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseases
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinecritical care medicine
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinetoxicology
Call for proposal
FP6-2002-MOBILITY-1
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