Project description
Advanced tissue fracture model
The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a monolayer of pigmented cells that supports photoreceptors, regulates nutrient exchange and removes waste. When the RPE ruptures, it disrupts these essential functions, leading to vision loss and retinal degeneration. Despite its importance, RPE fracture remains poorly understood. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BIOFRAC project aims to develop an advanced numerical model of RPE fracture. Researchers will follow an innovative micromechanical approach and combine experimental and clinical data to generate a computational model for assessing RPE fracture risks in age-related macular degeneration. BIOFRAC research is expected to help understand disease progression and pave the way towards therapeutic interventions.
Objective
Blood vessel rupture in brain aneurysm is fatal in 40% of cases; vision loss initiated by Retina Pigment Epithelium rupture affected 60 million people in 2020. This proposal establishes new approaches to simulate these systems and the fellowship develops a unique skillset to solve problems involving tissue fracture, having major impact on future medical intervention. Soft tissues are essential in our body and their failure to maintain mechanical integrity leads to diseases. Despite its importance, present understanding of fracture in tissues is limited. Fracture significantly alters the mechanics of tissues and experiments alone are unable to disentangle the interacting processes occurring concurrently at the crack tip and in the bulk material. Hence, a mathematical approach is needed to understand how fracture propagates at cell level up to failure. Models that account for all the complex processes that occur during fracture are still missing. BIOFRAC aims to develop an accurate numerical model of tissue fracture by adopting an innovative micromechanical approach—supported by laboratory and clinical experiments—to account for the multi-physical complexities by means of a novel constitutive relationship. This approach will allow us to predict crack evolution up to catastrophic failure. BIOFRAC focuses on the study of a single layer of epithelial cells—a simple yet clinically relevant tissue that lines many organs. Using this system, BIOFRAC seeks to uncover the biophysical and mechanical processes that control fracture initiation and propagation. The approach will then be used to address ophthalmological problems by development of a novel computational model for Retinal Pigment Epithelium able to quantify the risks of fracture during Age-related Macular Degeneration treatment. BIOFRAC will stimulate more studies of disease evolution and novel therapy. The new skills will boost my career by placing me at the forefront of tissue failure research.
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.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine angiology vascular diseases
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine ophthalmology
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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)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-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.
20133 Milano
Italy
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.