Project description
Shedding light on cancer treatment resistance
Often, the reason a cancer patient relapses is that a few cells have learned to ‘outsmart’ the drugs. These chemoresistant cells can rewire their metabolism, evade therapy, and drive relapse. The EIC-funded CHEM-SCAN project aims to make these hidden cells visible. Specifically, it will combine new fluorescent probes with a high-speed imaging platform to track metabolic changes in cancer cells. By watching how these cells react to drugs in the lab, researchers can spot exactly which ones are resisting and why. Instead of guessing which treatment might work, CHEM-SCAN allows scientists to test different drug combinations to find the one that can kill the entire tumour. Overall, CHEM-SCAN aims to support more precise, personalised cancer treatment.
Objective
The development of chemoresistance, i.e. the ability of cancer cells to evade treatment, has become a major challenge for current cancer therapy and significantly contributes to most tumor relapses and deaths. Changes in the way how sub-populations of cancer cells process metabolites have been identified as an indication of tumor chemoresistance: multiple different metabolites were found and identified in several chemoresistant tumors, which are attributed to facilitate tumor cell survival under chemotherapeutic stress. Identifying cells that can resist chemotherapy by adapting metabolite processing is, however, difficult, because this requires assessing the biochemical state of many cells at the single cell level and for multiple metabolites, simultaneously. A key limitation is that currently no single non-invasive platform exists that can be utilized in a highly parallelized fashion to monitor chemoresistance at the cellular and tissue level. CHEM-SCAN will develop novel fluorescent probes for the energetic/reductive state of cells, metabolites, and metabolic indicators that can assess chemoresistance of single cells. These probes will be assessed with highest sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution by CHEM-SCAN's novel high-speed fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) platform across multiple length scales. This FLIM platform will allow biomedical and clinical researchers to determine and follow the individual responses of human cancer cells to chemotherapy, enabling the assessment of individualized treatment options. Using the platform, alternative options for the individualized treatment of chemoresistant tumors, such as the combination of multiple drugs or the testing of new drugs can rapidly be conducted in-vitro without posing additional burdens on the patient. At the same time, CHEM-SCAN will provide a research platform for the continued quest for a better understanding of chemoresistance and will be able to scale well beyond just this initial target.
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.
You need to log in or register to use this function
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.
-
HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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-EIC - HORIZON EIC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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-EIC-2025-PATHFINDEROPEN
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
33615 Bielefeld
Germany
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.