Project description
Mapping to transform paediatric sarcoma research
Paediatric sarcomas represent approximately 20 % of childhood cancers. Despite medical advancements, their survival rates have remained stagnant for the past three decades. This underscores the need for novel approaches in understanding and treating these devastating tumours. With this in mind, the ERC-funded SARCOMAkids project will develop a new approach. Specifically, it will focus on Ewing sarcoma, a developmental cancer driven by fusion oncogenes. The project will construct innovative cellular models from human pluripotent stem cells. By mimicking the developmental origins of these tumours, researchers hope to accelerate drug discovery and precision medicine. Through mapping of oncogene-competent cell states and crafting supportive tumour microenvironments, SARCOMAkids promises to revolutionise our understanding of paediatric sarcomas.
Objective
Pediatric sarcomas account for ~20% of childhood cancers. They have disappointing survival rates, with very little therapeutic progress over the last three decades. We clearly have to rethink the science and find new ways to tackle these devastating tumors. I propose that new cellular models are needed that account for the developmental origins of pediatric sarcoma, in order to accelerate drug discovery and molecular precision medicine.
Focusing on Ewing sarcoma, which is a developmental cancer caused by a (known) fusion oncogene expressed in (unknown) cells-of-origin, we will pursue a “build it to understand it” approach and construct in vitro and in vivo tumor models starting from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). We will validate these models against our single-cell and spatial maps of Ewing sarcoma tumors, and we will pursue initial applications in academic drug discovery – targeting the regulatory programs of Ewing sarcoma cells, metabolic dependencies of the tumor microenvironment and developmentally programmed tumors in their in vivo context.
To build Ewing sarcoma models in a molecular defined manner, we will map oncogene-competent cell states by inducing EWS-FLI1 expression in hPSC-based models of human development (Aim 1). We will create supportive tumor microenvironments by 3D differentiation and CRISPR screening in stromal cells (Aim 2). Finally, we will evaluate the ability of in vitro models to form tumors in mice, and we will pursue full in vivo modeling of Ewing sarcoma using genetically engineered teratomas (Aim 3).
Compared to patient-derived xenografts, organoids or cell lines, our approach captures early events of tumorigenesis, providing complementary in vitro and in vivo models of Ewing sarcoma for biomedical and translational research. This approach will generalize to other tumor types, as it takes the concept of developmental cancers seriously and operationalizes it using cellular programming and high-throughput functional biology.
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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-COG
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.
1090 Wien
Austria
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.