Objective
Bacteria are among the most brilliant chemists on Earth. They are capable of producing a wealth of structurally diverse natural products with a wide range of applications in medicine, such as the treatment of infections and cancer. The synthetic production of microbial natural products and their transformation into pharmaceutical drugs is often a challenging, costly and time-consuming process due to the structural complexity of these molecules and the difficulties associated with drug solubility and formulation.
An emerging new strategy in disease treatment aims to exploit beneficial intestinal microbes for local drug production and delivery. Such commensal bacteria are safe, can be administered easily, and can be engineered to detect diseases and release drugs in adequate local concentrations. However, the current therapeutic platform or chassis strains cannot stably colonize the human gut and have so far only been engineered to produce therapeutic proteins, such as hormones or cytokines. As a result, no commensal chassis strains are available to treat chronic intestinal diseases or to produce clinically important natural product therapeutics.
In MiStiC, I propose to revolutionize microbial therapy systems by developing the beneficial, stable and prominent gut colonizer Clostridium leptum as an innovative and superior chassis for long-term health monitoring and chronic disease treatment. I will combine my expertise in molecular microbiology, enzyme engineering and natural product biosynthesis to equip the chassis with a nanobody-based biosensor and biocontainment modules, and optimize it for the expression of natural product biosynthetic pathways. As a proof-of-concept, we will implement these tools and chassis strains for the detection and treatment of colorectal cancer.
Together, these innovations will have broad translational applications and will pave the way to a new frontier in the field of microbiome engineering and synthetic microbial therapy systems
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.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors biosensors
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
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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-2022-STG
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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.
9052 ZWIJNAARDE - GENT
Belgium
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.