Project description
Solving the mystery of plant nanovesicles
Plant extracellular nanovesicles (PEVs) are tiny vesicles that play a big role in plant defence. They also hold great promise as tools for drug delivery. We still know very little about where they come from, how they’re secreted, and what part they play in plant growth. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the EXIT PLAN project will study PEVs found in pollen grains and root hairs. Researchers will employ advanced biomedical techniques tailored for plants to uncover how PEVs are formed, how they exit cells, and how they facilitate communication during growth. EXIT PLAN is poised to provide valuable insights that could benefit both agriculture and medicine.
Objective
In today’s fast-paced world, the need for innovative solutions leads to a preference for applied sciences over fundamental research, to the detriment of possible ground-breaking discoveries and revolutions in the future. This is the case of plant extracellular nanovesicles (PEVs), small vesicles secreted by plants which were first discovered in plant defence against pathogens, but that were soon co-opted by the biomedical research as promising nutraceuticals and drug delivery tools. To date, the majority of scientific literature on PEVs focuses on their possible therapeutic uses. Nonetheless, little is known about their biogenesis, secretion mechanism, and function in the plant kingdom, especially in physiological processes such as cell growth. This enormous gap in knowledge not only hinders their exploitation in plant biotechnology and agronomy, but also limits their safety in medical applications. EXIT PLAN will fill in this gap addressing three main research objectives (ROs), through three research work packages (WPs). First, the project will assess the nature of PEVs secreted during the apical growth of plant cells (RO1, WP2), and in particular pollen and root hairs. For this purpose, biomedical techniques for the characterisation of human nanovesicles will be readapted to isolate and characterise PEVs, during the secondment at Nottingham Trent University. Then, RO1 will be furtherly investigated at the University of Zurich, using plant transformation, advanced microscopy, and omics analyses to identify different PEVs populations. The same approach will be adopted to unveil how PEVs are externalised from the cell wall (RO2, WP3). Finally, the techniques learned during the outgoing phase will be implemented with a molecular biology approach at the University of Bologna, during the return phase, to understand the role of PEVs in cellular communication during cell growth (RO3, WP4), identifying PEVs targets and understanding the effects of PEV-based signalling.
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 human-validated.
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 human-validated.
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)
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global 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-2024-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.
40126 Bologna
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.