Objective
Glioblastoma is the most common and most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults. It is paradigmatic for many incurable, poorly immunologic solid tumors that desperately need more effective therapies. Cellular immunotherapies with engineered immune cells expressing synthetic chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) to recognize cancer cells have great therapeutic potential. However, significant barriers related to cell manufacturing, immune cell migration and activation in the tumor environment and failure to engage the host immune system, have hindered the breakthrough of CAR cell therapies against solid tumors like glioblastoma. Our recent research shows encouraging results by combining different CAR immune cell types or arming them to co-express additional factors. Yet due to technical limitations, such multicellular CAR immune cell networks remain largely unexplored and the most potent factors for improving CAR immune cell efficacy in glioblastoma are still to be identified.
The overarching goal of this proposal is to break barriers of current CAR cell therapies in solid tumors with a focus on glioblastoma. To achieve this, we will employ innovative cell engineering strategies to create multicellular CAR immune cell networks and evaluate their safety and efficacy in advanced human model systems and orthotopic immunocompetent mouse models using cutting-edge technologies such as functional single-cell profiling (Aim 1). Furthermore, we will use in vivo cell labeling and time-resolved single-cell RNA sequencing to decipher the dynamics of a CAR cell therapy-associated host immune response and harness this for combination therapies (Aim 2) and conduct novel gain-of-function screens in primary immune cells to identify the most potent co-factor for enhancing CAR cell efficacy (Aim 3). Altogether our project will deliver novel cell therapy concepts and technical solutions to address unmet medical needs and provide novel insights in cancer-immune interactions.
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 oncology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
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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.1.1 - 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-2025-STG
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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.
8006 Zurich
Switzerland
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.