Project description
New framework to better understand antibiotic resistance
The development of antibiotics transformed the treatment of infectious diseases and has saved millions of lives. However, their widespread and often unnecessary use has accelerated the rise of antibiotic resistance, one of the major public health challenges of our time. Our limited understanding of the mechanisms driving resistance leaves us poorly prepared for future threats. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the INFECTAR project will develop a unified framework that integrates ecological and evolutionary processes to explain and predict the spread of infectious diseases and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Using Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a model system, the project will investigate the complex dynamics of resistance evolution and provide knowledge to support more effective disease control strategies worldwide today.
Objective
INFECTAR (INtegrating multidisciplinary Frameworks and Empirical data to Capture Transmission dynamics of Antibiotic Resistance) addresses the urgent challenge of understanding and predicting the spread of antibiotic resistance. Current approaches remain limited by fragmented data, disciplinary silos, and a lack of integrative frameworks that capture the eco-evolutionary and network processes driving resistance emergence. The project has two main goals. First, it will develop a general eco-evolutionary framework integrating interactions among human hosts, microbes, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs, such as plasmids). This versatile tool will be applicable across infectious diseases. Second, it will apply the framework to disentangle resistance dynamics in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacteria responsible for a major sexually transmitted infection. INFECTAR contains two Work Packages: WP1 builds the framework by combining multilayer network structures (host-microbe-MGE interactions) with eco-evolutionary feedbacks (EEFs), parameterized with experimental, clinical, demographic, and surveillance data. WP2 applies and validates the framework for N. gonorrhoeae, testing predictions against empirical evidence, and disseminating findings to scientific and public health audiences. INFECTAR is innovative in explicitly linking EEFs, multilayer networks, and infection dynamics. Its impact goes beyond theory by fostering interdisciplinary training, open-access tools, and resources for scientists, policymakers, and the public. By bridging ecology, epidemiology, microbiology, and data science, INFECTAR will deliver conceptual advances and practical tools for improved disease monitoring, risk assessment, and public health preparedness.
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 computer and information sciences data science
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug resistance antibiotic resistance
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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)
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Topic(s)
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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-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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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.
28006 Madrid
Spain
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