Project description
Double blow on resistant bacteria
The increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance poses a significant medical threat against conventional procedures and has urged scientists to investigate for alternatives to antibiotics. Two promising new strategies have emerged: targeting bacterial adhesion and recruiting natural antibodies already present in the bloodstream against pathogens. Funded by the European Research Council, the PATHO-LEGO project proposes to combine these two strategies to fight resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. The consortium will develop antibody recruiting molecules that block P. aeruginosa and promote their immune-mediated clearance. The PATHO-LEGO strategy is expected to demonstrate maximal antibacterial potential against resistant bacterial species.
Objective
"Despite the large therapeutic arsenal available to fight bacterial infections, the development of new anti-infectious strategies is a major public health concern. Pathogens have indeed developed a variety of Multi Drug Resistance mechanisms to escape destruction. To circuvment these problems, a few promising alternatives have been proposed. A first one focuses on the bacterial adhesion step to the host cells which involves multivalent interactions between the glycocalix and bacterial adhesins. Molecular constructs displaying clusters of carbohydrates have been shown to efficiently compete with these complex recognition processes, thus having the potential to prevent this key step of the bacterial infection. The recruitment of natural antibodies (NAbs) present in the human bloodsteam against biological targets to stimulate their destruction by the immune system is another alternative to fight pathogens. This approach is based on the utilization of bimodal molecules (namely ARGs, Antibody Recruiting Glycodendrimers) which are composed of two recognition domains, one for NAbs and one for receptors expressed by the pathogen. The potential of this ""recruiting strategy"" was demonstrated recently in the PI's team in the context of cancers where NAbs have been efficiently redirected against tumors (ERC CoG LEGO and ERC PoC THERA-LEGO). For the first time, PATHO-LEGO will take advantage of these two ""antiadhesive"" and ""recruitment"" strategies simultaneously to fight resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We aim at developing hybrid ARGs that will block extracellular process that P. aeruginosa uses to infect host cells on the one hand, and that will redirect NAbs against the bacteria to induce their immune-mediated clearance on the other hand. With this unprecedented approach, we will be able to both prevent infection and kill the targeted resistant bacteria to optimize the antibacterial effect."
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.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
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.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
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-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept 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-POC2
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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.
38058 GRENOBLE
France
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.