Descrizione del progetto
La «meccanomica» per la valutazione dei trattamenti
La misurazione delle proprietà meccaniche dei tessuti biologici è uno dei modi impiegati per valutare come un trattamento o un’espressione genica influenzi la rigidità o la resistenza di un tessuto. Sebbene si tratti di un compito importante per svariati campi, quali la scoperta di farmaci, la diagnostica e lo screening genomico, le attuali tecnologie per la strumentazione nel settore della meccanomica sono obsolete. La tecnologia sviluppata nell’ambito del progetto MECHANOMICS-POC, finanziato dal CER, è in grado di applicare carichi controllati ai campioni tissutali, di misurare le deformazioni di massa indotte a livello di micron e di mappare la distribuzione della rigidità locale di questi tessuti, dimostrando il potenziale competitivo della meccanomica. Un primo prototipo integrato verrà convalidato in condizioni reali allo scopo di preparare la sua commercializzazione in qualità di attrezzatura di laboratorio standard per applicazioni di scoperta dei farmaci.
Obiettivo
Mechanomics refers to the measurement of mechanical properties at the microscopic scale in biological tissues. Strong hopes are currently placed on mechanomics to evaluate quantitatively how a treatment or a gene expression affects the stiffness or strength of a tissue, with major impacts expected in drug discovery, diagnostics and genomics screening. However, there is a pressing need for new instrumentation technologies in mechanomics.
In the BIOLOCHANICS ERC CoG project, we developed and validated a novel multimodal technology addressing these challenges. Our technology can perform the following actions: 1. apply controlled loads on tissue samples, 2. measure the induced bulk deformations at the micron level and 3. map the distribution of local stiffness of these tissues.
Our technology shows very competitive potential for mechanomics in general. However, as an innovative technology, it remains now at the stage of a technological concept with a first laboratory application (TRL2-3) achieved within the ERC CoG BIOLOCHANICS project. Our global objective in MECHANOMICS-POC is to reach TRL 6 in order to take it further towards a commercial innovation: make a first integrated prototype, test it in an intended environment, and refine the comparison with existing technologies. Our specific objectives are (O1) to build an integrated user-friendly prototype; (O2) to determine further IPR strategy; (O3) to establish the commercialization strategy including market research, industrial partnerships and lead management; (O4) to validate the prototype in real-world conditions and present it to industrial stakeholders in the identified sectors.
Beside the development and assessment of the prototype demonstrator, we will focus on the future exploitation and commercialization roadmap of this technology, which is aimed at becoming a standard laboratory equipment or service for fundamental research in life sciences and for drug discovery applications.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
HORIZON-AG-LS - HORIZON Lump Sum GrantIstituzione ospitante
91120 Palaiseau
Francia