Project description
Innovative approach to overcome antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria
Antimicrobial resistance, associated with multidrug-resistant pathogens, represents a global health emergency. Gram-negative bacteria prevent effective treatment by making their outer membrane (OM) impermeable for standard-of-care (SOC) antibiotics. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BREAKthrough research and training network aims to sensitise the bacteria to SOC antibiotics by making their OM permeable. The goal is to develop inhibitors of three protein machineries responsible for OM maintenance. The objectives include the development of new chemical space rules for drugs crossing the OM, the discovery of OM maintenance inhibitors to overcome the resistance to SOC antibiotics, and the training of 11 doctoral candidates to become professional industrial drug developers.
Objective
Antimicrobial resistance, which is caused by multi-drug-resistant bacterial pathogens is a global health emergency. Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) notably hinder effective treatment because of their impermeable outer membrane (OM). Consequently, many standard-of-care (SOC) antibiotics cannot access intracellular targets in GNB.
The objective of the BREAKthrough European Training Network (ETN) is to sensitise GNB to these antibiotics by making their OM permeable. To this end, we will develop inhibitors of three protein machineries that are responsible for OM maintenance. Importantly, many known antibacterial agents have characteristics different from drugs that are directed against targets in mammalian cells. To define better rules for antibacterial drug development a data hub will be created to assemble information on the physico-chemical characteristics of molecules that can pass the OM.
To achieve these goals, a multi-disciplinary academic-industrial consortium has been assembled with organic chemists, computational chemists and specialists in high-throughput drug screening, zebrafish infection models, bacterial morphogenesis and the molecular biology of the three targets. The expected outcomes of the BREAKthrough ETN include (i) the development of new chemical space rules for drugs that need to cross the OM, (ii) the discovery of new inhibitors that interfere with OM maintenance to overcome the insensitivity of Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria towards SOC antibiotics and (iii) providing 10 Early Stage Researchers with scientific, technical, business and transferable skills to become professional drug developers with a keen eye for the hurdles in the development of these drugs in an industrial context.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs antibiotics
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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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-TMA-MSCA-DN - HORIZON TMA MSCA Doctoral Networks
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-DN-01
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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.
1348 LOUVAIN LA NEUVE
Belgium
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