Objective
Transferring results from animal models to humans is a major bottleneck in pharmaceutical research. This is particularly true for brain disorders, including neurodegenerative and developmental diseases. Both animal models and conventional cell culture methods fail to recapitulate the complexity of the human brain and there are fundamental differences in developmental and physiological aspects between humans and the commonly used animal models. The high attrition rate of drugs for brain disorders has led major pharmaceutical companies to severely downsize their respective departments.
To overcome the inherent limitations of current in vitro and in vivo models for brain disorders, we have generated a proprietary human pluripotent stem cell-derived 3D organoid culture system, termed cerebral organoids. These cerebral organoids are ‘mini brains’ that grow in a petri dish , display discrete but interconnected brain regions and recapitulate features of human brain development. ‘Mini Brains’ can be derived from patient-specific stem cells and represent a unique opportunity for creating specific human disease models in a 3D culture.
The aim of the ‘Mini Brain’ project is to investigate the commercial feasibility of cerebral organoids as a new and highly cost-effective tool in the discovery and development of therapies for neurodegenerative and developmental diseases. The use of patient-specific cerebral organoids for drug screening and validation offers an alternative to animal experiments, reducing costs and animal use and improving reliability of results, and has the potential to decrease the cost of drug development, reduce the brain disease burden and increase the rate of approved drugs for brain disorders.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies stem cells
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health epidemiology modeling of diseases spread
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2015-PoC
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1030 WIEN
Austria
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.