Objective
For decades, cardiovascular biomechanics has treated women as “small men,” assuming biological sex has little impact on vascular function. This bias has obscured key mechanisms driving female-predominant diseases such as Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), where existing models fail to explain why and when arteries rupture in women.
DISSEX will overturn this paradigm by developing a sex-aware multiscale framework to predict vascular dissection risk. The project will generate personalized rupture-risk maps to transform diagnosis, prediction, and treatment planning of cardiovascular dissections. To achieve this, DISSEX will address three major challenges: (1) quantify how human coronary arteries respond to systemic hormonal fluctuations and biomechanical stress; (2) determine how hormonal and mechanical factors interact in female-predominant dissections; and (3) reveal the multiscale mechanisms driving coronary dissection.
We hypothesize that integrating systemic drivers – sex hormones, stress, and genetic predisposition – with imaging-derived biomechanical data in an explainable, physics-informed multiscale model will enable local rupture-risk prediction with unprecedented precision. To test this, we will:
Aim 1: quantify gender-specific coronary cellular responses to systemic and biomechanical stimuli via advanced ex vivo analyses;
Aim 2: model cross-scale interactions using Physics-Informed AI;
Aim 3: identify triggering factors in de novo SCAD and in genetically predisposed populations (Turner and Marfan Syndromes).
Ultimately, DISSEX will ambitiously bridge vascular biology, biomechanics, and AI in a fully integrative framework – and through this approach it will redefine the role of gender in cardiovascular biomechanics and open a new path toward precision care of cardiovascular dissections.
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.
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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-2026-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.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
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.