Project description
Acoustic whole-blood cytometry for cancer metastasis
Breast and prostate cancer are common cancers in women and men, respectively, but both often face metastasis. The emergence of new targeted therapies has created an unmet need for improved prognostication, treatment prediction, and monitoring, where circulating tumour cell enumeration could be particularly valuable. However, these cells are rare, and classifying and counting them is highly challenging due to the overwhelming presence of other blood cells. The ERC-funded BLOODFLOW project aims to develop new tools for detecting and monitoring disease progression in patients with metastatic cancer. The project will introduce acoustic whole-blood cytometry, enabling unbiased imaging and counting of circulating tumour cells using fluorescent antibodies with minimal pre-treatment. Additionally, it will address the technical challenges associated with commercialising this technology.
Objective
This project addresses the need for new tools to detect and monitor the disease progression in patients with metastatic cancer. Breast and prostate cancer are the most common malignant cancers in women and men, respectively. Metastasis is the main threat in these cancers since it turns a curable local disease into a chronic lethal disease. With emerging new targeting therapies, there is an unmet clinical need for improved prognostication, treatment prediction and treatment monitoring, where circulating tumor cells enumeration have potential to become a valuable tool. But circulating tumor cells are very rare and the background of other blood cells is vast which makes it extremely challenging to classify and count these cells.
In the project, we will develop acoustic whole-blood cytometry. This will enable unbiased imaging and enumeration of circulating tumor cells through a panel of fluorescent antibodies with minimal pre-treatment. The vision is that the approach will become standard equipment in hospital labs in the transition to more personalized healthcare.
The project will evaluate key technical challenges on the path to commercialization. The project has strong support from an industrial partner and from clinicians and pre-clinical researchers focused on breast and prostate cancer.
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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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)
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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-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-POC
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22100 Lund
Sweden
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