Descripción del proyecto
Un dispositivo compacto de obtención de imágenes celulares para ayudar a la investigación farmacológica
La pandemia de COVID-19 representa una carga importante para la atención sanitaria. Sin embargo, es necesario comprender completamente las vías de la enfermedad para desarrollar rápidamente vacunas y fármacos que permitan hacer frente a futuras amenazas sanitarias. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos CoCID se basa en la idea de que los cambios en el tamaño y la estructura de un orgánulo celular, a medida que la enfermedad entra en una célula, son indicadores precoces. La microscopia de rayos X suaves (SXM) es la única tecnología disponible para medir el tamaño y la estructura de los orgánulos. Sin embargo, las instalaciones de SXM existentes, conocidas como sincrotrones, tienen un tamaño enorme y no resultan fácilmente accesibles para los investigadores. En este contexto, el proyecto desarrollará un dispositivo de obtención de imágenes celulares compacto con el objetivo de impulsar la SXM para la investigación sobre enfermedades y fármacos.
Objetivo
The cost of influenza virus care in the EU was approx. €29 billion in 2018, or 2% of total healthcare costs. The costs to EU state governments for dealing with the Covid-19 virus could be 50 times that of influenza, effectively doubling normal healthcare costs. The EU needs to be better prepared to quickly develop vaccines and drugs to deal with future outbreaks but this can only be achieved with a full understanding of disease pathways.
The central idea in project CoCID is that changes in the size and structure of cellular organelle, as any disease infiltrates a cell, are seen as early warning indicators of that disease. The only technology available today that can image through a whole cell, measuring organelle size and structure, is soft x-ray microscopy (SXM).
The problem is that the illumination required for a soft x-ray microscope is currently only available at four football-stadium sized facilities, called synchrotrons, and only 2% of the disease research community have access. The challenge addressed by project CoCID is to make SXM available to the wider disease research and drug discovery community, while also showing how technology improvements enhance its ability to revolutionise cell structure imaging.
SiriusXT’s breakthrough innovation is its ability to miniaturize the synchrotron into a small chamber that will easily fit on a laboratory bench, providing the same type of soft x-ray illumination as the synchrotron. This novel and patented innovation, based on a laser-produced plasma (LPP) design, will give researchers 24/7 access to this imaging modality in their own labs.
To demonstrate impact, the scope of the project has been narrowed to focus only on diseases relating to viral and bacterial infection, allowing a consortium of leading virologists and imaging experts to collaborate in elucidating the cellular origins of viral infection in a range of applications while increasing the EU’s readiness for future viral pandemics.
Ámbito científico
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologypandemics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesinfluenza
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-ICT-2020-2
Régimen de financiación
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinador
4 Dublin
Irlanda