Project description
Enhancing Europe’s response to mosquito-borne viruses
Mosquito-borne diseases like the West Nile and Usutu viruses are becoming a growing threat to public health in Europe. These viruses are spreading more widely, and current treatments are limited. With climate change and increased mosquito populations, the risk of outbreaks is rising. There is an urgent need for effective solutions to prevent and treat these infections. With this in mind, the EU-funded REFINE project will develop treatments. It focuses on understanding how the viruses interact with the human body and identifying targets for drugs and vaccines. The project uses advanced models to test the safety of potential treatments. Ultimately, REFINE aims to improve Europe’s ability to respond quickly to these viral threats.
Objective
REFINE confronts the escalating challenge of mosquito-borne orthoflavivirus infections, focusing on West Nile and Usutu viruses as emergent threats to European public health. The overall goal is to identify novel targets for therapeutics and to deliver a suite of validated models to assess efficacy and safety of novel compounds (antibodies, inhibitors, and vaccine candidate targets) for Phase I clinical trials. In the first of its six experimental objectives, REFINE characterizes genomic diversity of orthoflaviviruses to select representative clinically relevant strains. A unique strength of the proposal is the extensive suite of model assays (objective 2) designed to unravel the complex dynamics of virus-host interactions at each step of the infection pathway. These assays form a basis for receptor and pathway characterisation (objective 3). Objective 4 aims to asses both efficacy and safety of novel intervention strategies targeting these receptors and pathways, based on nanobodies, peptides and monoclonal antibodies. Objective 5 studies the key infection steps and putative receptors in humans, utilizing previously collected patient samples to ensure real-world applicability of developed strategies. Ultimately, objective 6 is to integrate knowledge gained to establish a robust and sustainable platform capable of rapid validation of new therapeutic interventions.
The overall mission of REFINE is to significantly enhance Europe's preparedness and response abilities against the expected wave of mosquito-borne viral diseases. The team members share a lifelong commitment to advancing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying various aspects of host-pathogen interactions at the human-animal-environment interface. Together, the REFINE team embodies a comprehensive approach to address one of the priority health security concerns of our time by delivering effective and safe countermeasures against emergent viral pathogens in Europe.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
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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.2.1 - Health
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.2.1.5 - Tools, Technologies and Digital Solutions for Health and Care, including personalised medicine
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HORIZON.2.1.4 - Infectious Diseases, including poverty-related and neglected diseases
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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-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
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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-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-08
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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.
3015 GD Rotterdam
Netherlands
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.