Objective
Western society is on the brink of a fertility crisis, whereby human sperm counts have dropped by 59% over the past four decades and are projected to reach zero by 2045. Treatments for the primary causes of male infertility have no scientific basis, with urologists relying on ineffective empirical medical strategies (guess work). Identifying effective male fertility treatments requires appropriate preclinical models of the sperm-producing testes that can establish a mechanistic basis for treatment choice, dosage and duration. Preclinical models must accurately represent the organ-specific tissue and be amenable to high-throughput experimentation with automated analysis to ensure that they provide representative, reliable and reproducible data. However, current models necessitate manual low-throughput methods and do not accurately represent testicular tissue as the pertinent tissue properties are unknown. The urological field therefore lacks an appropriate model of the testes upon which to evaluate male infertility treatments.
The applicant will address this gap by characterising the relevant properties of human testicular tissue, and establishing their effects on resident cell function. The resulting data will inform the development of a hydrogel material with properties tailored to match those of the native tissue. Microspheres of the representative hydrogel, containing primary testicular cells arranged to mimic the native tissue structure, will be fabricated using a high-throughput platform and analysed using an automated Raman spectroscope, thereby forming the first representative, reliable and reproducible model of the human testes. The RE3MODEL system will be validated against established in vitro models and used to determine the therapeutic mechanisms of current empirical medical strategies, while also identifying and optimising the most promising treatment approaches as an exemplar application.
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: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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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-2021-STG
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.
- Limerick
Ireland
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.