Objective
An important aspect of cancer therapy is the specificity of the treatment. Significant progress has been made in drug design. However, gene therapy by direct targeting of oncogenes has not yet met equal success. Among the most valuable tools are meganucleases, also known as homing endonucleases (HE). These enzymes recognize and cleave long (around 20bp) DNA sequences and have been shown to induce gene repair in vivo efficiently. The mechanism involves induction of homologous recombination (HR) by creating a double strand break (DSB) of DNA. HEs also have the significant advantage of being amenable to redesign for new target sequences. Applications have been demonstrated, for example, in the treatment of xeroderma pigmentosum, a condition associated with skin carcinomas. Unfortunately, inducing HR by DSB tends to produce genetic instabilities. A safer alternative would be to use single-strand-cleaving enzymes (nickases). However, this must be done retaining sequence specificity, a property unavailable in natural enzymes. Consequently, engineering is necessary. A promising candidate for redesign is the monomeric HE I-DmoI, but details of the mechanism, namely the role of metals in the active site and the precise timing of strand cleavage, must still be unraveled. X-ray and mutagenesis experiments performed at CNIO provided significant, although incomplete, evidence on those crucial aspects. Experimentally-supported theory and computational modeling can help clarify remaining incognitas, such as the strand preference of the enzyme. We will use state-of-the-art computational methods (ab-initio molecular dynamics, hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics and molecular modeling), to gain insight into aspects of the mechanism not seen in experiments, including the timing of strand cleavage. This knowledge could eventually lead to the design of a more effective and specific HEs to be used in gene therapy of skin cancer, and hopefully of other types.
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 medical biotechnology genetic engineering gene therapy
- natural sciences physical sciences quantum physics
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- natural sciences computer and information sciences computational science
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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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.
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.
Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF
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Funding Scheme
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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.
Coordinator
28029 Madrid
Spain
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.