Objective
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) represent a major global health crisis, with over 9.8 million people in Europe living with dementia. These conditions are driven by intrinsically disordered amyloid proteins, including amyloid-β (Aβ) and α-synuclein (αS), which undergo early conformational changes and aggregate into toxic assemblies. Detecting and characterising these changes at the earliest stages is crucial for timely diagnosis and therapeutic intervention. This fellowship will develop and apply nanopipette-enabled native ion mobility (IM) and top-down mass spectrometry (MS) for the direct analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), providing the first native MS platform to profile intact proteoforms in complex human biofluids. Nanopipettes are submicron electrospray ionisation emitters that overcome analytical barriers, enabling detection of low-abundance proteins in their native form, mitigating ion suppression and salt adduction. Coupling nanopipette MS with IM and top-down fragmentation will capture conformational ensembles, post translational modifications, and structural fingerprints of disease-associated proteins directly from CSF. Research objectives include: (i) optimising nanopipette workflows with model systems (cell lysates, artificial CSF); (ii) applying these protocols to clinical CSF samples to detect novel disease-specific proteoforms and conformational shifts; and (iii) validating biomarkers using complementary bottom-up proteomics. Collaborative training at UCLA (Prof. Joseph Loo) and VU Amsterdam (Prof. Anouk Rijs) will provide access to cutting-edge Orbitrap, IM-MS, and PhotoSynapt instruments. By pioneering direct native proteoform analysis of CSF, this project addresses an urgent unmet need in biomarker discovery, offering a transformative approach for earlier, more precise AD and PD diagnosis, while establishing a broadly applicable platform for clinical proteomics and next-generation diagnostics.
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 biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology dementia alzheimer
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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.1.2 - 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-2025-PF
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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.
1081 HV Amsterdam
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.