Project description
In vitro tools to screen for reproductive toxins in women
Fertility has been increasing globally for the last three decades. Environmental toxins, often found in everyday products, are a known contributing factor. Scientists lack the tools to assess how chemicals on the European market impact women’s fertility. The ERC-funded SAFER project aims to leverage an extensive ovary biobank, established stem cell lines and multiomics technologies to develop new assays to close this gap. The project will focus on chemicals ubiquitously present in women and known to decrease ovarian function, mapping the mechanisms mediating toxicity in chemically exposed ovarian tissue and stem cell derived embryo model cultures. This understanding will support development of in vitro tools to screen female reproductive toxicants.
Objective
Chemical health risk assessment has failed to safeguard fertility in women. Women and their oocytes are exposed to pervasive mixtures of human-made chemicals that correlate with reproductive ageing and infertility. Only 0.5% of the chemicals on the European market have been well characterized for health risks, and reproductive toxicity in women is typically not covered due to missing tools. The new European Growth Strategy aims at sustainable growth, zero-pollution and safe chemicals. While the need for increased chemical testing is tangible, there is a movement to phase out animal experiments. This creates a huge challenge to deliver on the vision of a safe and toxic-free environment.
Here, I will develop new high-content assays for reproductive toxicity in women. SAFER is built on my exceptional ovary biobank, established stem cell lines, and multi-omics technologies. Using chemically exposed ovarian tissue and stem cell derived blastoid cultures, SAFER will map mechanisms mediating toxicity by high-resolution epigenetic and transcriptomic analyses. Model chemicals are chosen based on ubiquitous presence in women and significant associations to decreased ovarian function, as shown by my cohort studies. The identified mechanisms will be tailored into reporter genes that I will insert into new immortalized human ovarian cells as well as stem cells, and develop into high-content screening assays. The product of SAFER is novel in vitro tools for screening of female reproductive toxicants.
Taken together, SAFER sets an example for animal-free derivation of assays for chemical safety assessment. SAFER tools will contribute to identification and restriction of chemicals that pose a hazard to women’s health. This is an important step in the global movement towards a non-toxic, safe environment.
Starting a family is a basic human right, and whether to have a child or not should be decided by the prospective parents, not by the chemicals in their environment.
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.
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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)
- reproductive toxicology
- human-made chemicals
- endocrine disrupting chemicals
- non-toxic environment
- infertility
- female fertility
- human ovaries
- human embryos
- human stem cells
- human ovarian tissue culture
- ovarian follicles
- ovarian reserve
- oocyte
- organoid
- blastoid model
- implantation
- single-cell multi-omics
- mechanisms
- reporter genes
- in vitro assays
- cell culture
- high-content assay
- chemical health risk assessment
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-2023-COG
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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.
171 77 STOCKHOLM
Sweden
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.